Not Quite a Pacifist
by OnewiththeSpaz
Summary: Part novelization and part alternative take. The story of some kid named Wallace who just moved to Hoenn and wants to give pacifism a shot. Except when he promised not to, or when criminals get involved, or a bunch of other times actually. Oh well, enter if you dare. Rating for language and some violence. Now Complete.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: An apology is due for those of you who were looking forward to the Worm/Sunless Sea crossover I promised. Turns out going from the first story I'd ever written to a more artistic, horror version of Wildbow was a bit beyond my current capabilities. As for this, I was once again bitten by the Pokémon bug recently for no apparent reason, this has caused an odd response in combination with my sporadic writing and ended up manifesting as this. This is going to take place all but exclusively in Hoenn, Emerald, and I haven't watched the show in over a decade. Make of it what you will. Feedback appreciated, I don't own Pokémon, etc.

Chapter 1: Uprooted

The van jostled and a stray box teetered precariously. I jerked a hand up to keep it from spilling over entirely. There was one more lurch as the vehicle stopped entirely, causing the stack I'd been bracing against to come down on top of me.

I muttered a mild curse as my twelve year old arms tried vainly to push the heap off of me. The doors creaked open as I squirmed my way out.

"Oh dear! Wallace, are you alright?" A youngish woman's voice asked.

"Don't worry, Mom. It was just my ribs," I answered a bit dryly as I hopped out of the van and dusted myself.

"I did warn you about riding in the back," she said as we walked inside.

"I'm still alive, I'll be fine," I muttered as we walked in, giving me a good look at my new home. There were several Machokes and a lone Makuhita already carrying boxes in. There was a fairly minimal kitchen that would only look marginally better after we unpacked. As of yet there was a carpet, a table, and surprisingly a TV already set up in a pseudo family room. There was another doorway next to the kitchen leading down a hall to what my guess was the master bed and the bathroom.

"Why don't you head upstairs and get your room together? I'll make sure things are working down here," she said with a pat and a nudge.

I obediently made my way up the small staircase and into my room. The curtains were pulled closed so I fumbled for the switch.

Once I got the light on I stood in the doorway and glanced around my room. Mom had done a very good job of making sure it looked a lot like my old one. I absently wandered to where my clock was on the wall, and went about setting the time.

Something was... weird. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Clock set, I wandered back downstairs.

"Hey mom, thanks for-"

"Oh Dear! Come quick, your father's on!" She squealed excitedly from the TV.

I jogged over to see, we hadn't been able to get connection to the channels dad showed up on in Johto, and with how often he'd been gone it was one of the bigger reasons we'd moved.

I made it just in time to see a reporter and dad smiling at the camera before it switched over to commercials.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear guess it was just finishing up. Anyways, what do you think of- Wallace? Is everything alright?" She sounded concerned.

I jolted back to the present. I could finally put a label on the feeling I'd had since getting of the truck. But of all things, why nostalgia?

"Sorry, still readjusting," I answered, shaking my head a bit. Mom would feel better if she could mother.

"Oh sweetie, don't worry too much. You'll get settled in before you know it. Speaking of which, I thought I saw one of our neighbors arrive while you were upstairs, why don't you head over and say hello?"

"Are you sure you don't want me over here to help?" I asked, the moving service only got everything into the house, there was still days' worth of setup before everything was in place.

"Don't you worry about me, I said my hellos when your father and I were looking at the house and I still need to sort the boxes. Go on," she said with a twinkle that reeked of mischief.

Thus it was with my parent sense still twitching that I walked over to our neighbor's house and knocked before I could find an excuse not to. There was a pause before the sound of shuffling feet approached the door.

"Oh, hello. You must be our new neighbor please come in," said a woman in a familiarly matronly voice.

"Thank you," I said as I stepped inside and looked around. The house looked remarkably similar to ours, just with more decorations and fewer boxes.

"May just got back, she's upstairs if you'd like to say hello- oh, where are my manners. I'm Ellen, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Wallace, and likewise of course," I politely smiled back.

"Well go on then, she's probably cataloguing her latest catch, she seemed rather excited about it when she came in," she said, waving a hand towards the staircase.

I made my way up and paused at the door. I probably should have been a little more focused on living next door to a girl my age, but that strange nostalgic feeling was only getting stronger. In a house I'd never set foot in no less. And why did I feel like I already knew May?

With those comforting thoughts, I knocked on the door.

"Yeah mom?" She, presumably May, called distractedly.

"It's your new neighbor, Wallace," I answered for lack of a better response.

I could almost feel the surprise from through the door before I heard footsteps approaching.

The door swung open.

The picture I'd unconsciously assembled in my head was looking back at me, I was _fairly_ certain I was keeping a straight face.

"I heard you were moving in, I didn't think you'd be over yet though. The moving van only left a bit ago. Oh, I'm May," she offered her hand.

I shook it. "Mom wanted me to say hi before I tried to get too reclusive. And speaking of, I heard you had a somewhat remarkable catch earlier?"

Given the newfound energy in her posture, I'd say I picked a good conversation topic.

"Oh yeah, here. Lemme show you!" She dashed back to her desk before I could say anything.

I stood a moment before poking my head into the room and glancing around.

 _Whoever the architect was for these houses didn't have much imagination._

Her room was all but a mirror image of mine, it even had-

"You have a gamecube?" I asked before I could wrangle my stupid mouth.

"Yeah, haven't used it much since I started helping professor Birch though. There's so much to learn about Pokémon, it's nuts!" She fiddled with her computer before swiping a compressed Pokéball off of her desk and tapping the button, causing it to enlarge. Again, before I could offer any sort of input, she tossed the device to her floor where it burst open with the telltale hard-light that coalesced into-

"Torchic!" The red, feathered bird thing chirped.

 _Starter._

 _Wait, what?_

May was thankfully too distracted to notice my sudden confusion.

"I would never have expected to find a fire type around Littleroot, though from a typing standpoint it makes sense, a lot of the other Pokémon are grass or bug type so it would have a distinct advantage in self defense. But what's doubly odd is that it seems particularly young, it's obviously a fire type, but he doesn't know any fire type moves. Still, I can't wait to show it to the professor. I was just finishing up when you knocked, want to come with?" Arceus almighty, did she not even breathe?

"Sure," I responded, still recovering from the weird familiarity.

May almost sprinted down the stairs and out the door, I paused just long enough to exchange formalities with Ellen before following.

Silently cursing my choice of footwear, I did my best to not trip as I ran after the remarkably swift girl in front of me. Thankfully, it was a fairly short walk to the lab, so our current pace got us there in about one minute.

"Professor Birch? Hey! Professor are you there?" May called out, offensively unaffected by running all the way here.

 _Though it's not like you've been exercising much yourself, and if you're gonna be hanging out with May much now'd be a good time to change that._

"I don't think he's here. Oh well, maybe you can meet him later. Mind if I get these notes transcribed before I forget the details?" She asked, already pulling her Pokédex out.

"Of course not, I should probably be getting back anyways. Make sure my Mom hasn't decorated my room in pink or something," I grinned as I wandered towards the door.

"She seemed like the kind of person who'd do that, tell her I said hello!" She yelled with a distracted wave, head already buried in the computer.

I opted to take the scenic route back both to get a better layout of Littleroot and to let my heart rate drop back to normal. I'd guess I made it about halfway before I caught sight of a little girl wringing the hem of her skirt in open distress staring down one of the many forest paths. Having both a heart and a brain, I approached.

"What's the matter?" I asked in what I hoped was a friendly voice.

She started, jerking her head around to look at me before relaxing a little. "I just thought I heard someone shout from a way down the path, but I don't have any Pokémon so-

"Augh, help!"

No Pokémon or not, I wasn't going to ignore that. I took off down the path as quickly as I could manage without tripping in my _stupid shoes_.

After several long seconds of running, I made it to where I'd heard the shout originate from. There was a grown man in an obviously out-of-place lab coat running from a-

 _Seriously? It's the size of a Caterpie._

Shelving cynical thoughts, I sprinted forward, past a leather bag on the ground, and grabbed the offending Poochyena without slowing down. Hoisting it up to eye level, I put a hand on its stomach and held it against a tree, hard enough to keep it there but not enough to keep it from breathing.

The dark-furred creature looked extremely surprised at the sudden change in position. I felt a small growl rise in its throat as it started to recover.

"NO."

My 'angry parent' voice was somewhat lessened by my prepubescent pitch, but it still seemed to do the trick. The dark type looked frankly lost before its ears tucked back and it squirmed uncomfortably. Convinced it had learned its lesson, I set the offending critter on the ground.

"Shoo," I said without breaking eye contact.

Not wanting to learn what else the unorthodox human might do, the Pokémon departed.

I turned back to the professor who'd been crying murder from a wild puppy. "Are you okay?"

He looked a bit shocked, though from the apparent attack or my unusual methods I wasn't sure.

 _Why_ did _I do that? I've been taught Pokémon are dangerous before you catch them. So why didn't I just-_

"You just-" the professor pulled me from my thoughts. "-how did-" he seemed to be having trouble finding words. "What?"

"You sounded like you were in trouble so I went with the first thing that came to mind. And it worked, didn't it?" I said a bit defensively.

 _But if he earned the title of Professor then he probably had an intelligent reason to run screaming from something I could hold in one hand._

"I- I guess," he took a moment to clear his head and straighten. "Anyways, thanks for saving me. I... Don't do well under stress."

 _Or maybe not._

"Whatever the case was, I'm glad to have helped. But I was supposed to be home by now, so I should be heading off, need help with anything else?" I asked as I edged back down the trail.

"No, I think I'm quite done for today. Professor Birch by the way," he said with an offered hand as he picked up his fallen bag.

"Oh, you're Professor Birch! I'm Wallace, just moved into town. May said she found something and she seemed rather excited about it. She was at the lab last I saw," I said as I shook his hand and tilted my chin in the vague direction of the building.

He gave a parental chuckle. "That girl's going to leave me out of a job if she keeps this up. Thank you again Wallace. And... Why don't you drop by the lab later?"

"Sure," I answered before my brain caught up with my mouth.

"Splendid! I'll be waiting at the lab. Take care!" He left with a wave.

 _Why do I keep agreeing to these things?_

The rest of the way home was thankfully uneventful.

"I'm back!" I called as I walked in and kicked of my now much dirtier shoes.

"I saw you running after our neighbor a bit ago, trying a bit too hard to make friends deary?" She said in a light tone as she walked out of the hallway.

"Har dee har har. She invited me to the Pokémon lab about forty seconds after I met her, that and she apparently doesn't know what walking is," I responded dryly.

"Whatever you say dear. Now, want to help me with these boxes?"

"Sure, though I already agreed to go visit Professor Birch later."

"Oh? You've met the professor already?" She asked with a mix of surprise and curiosity.

"Well..."

 _She's going to hear about it sooner or later, just as well she hears it from you._

So I told her what happened. I was able to time the "so I grabbed the Poochyena" when I could avoid eye contact, but I still could feel her alarm.

"And then I agreed to go meet him later," I finished, still pretending I hadn't done anything strange or dangerous.

There was a moment of quiet while I unpacked yet another box.

"I think..." She started quietly.

 _Grounded? Tongue Lashing? Extra chores? Come on don't leave me guessing, hit me with it._

"... That I would like to meet this professor when you go to his lab."

 _What._

"Okay...?" I answered with genuine confusion. But she had already walked out of the room.

 _Maybe she's going to chew out the professor instead? Should I warn him when I see him?_

Nothing to do but see. We finished getting everything in the kitchen sorted and decided to head over.

Still not quite sure what my mother was planning, I knocked on the door to the lab.

"Wallace, is that you? Please come in!" The professor shouted from somewhere inside.

Opening the door showed the space to be in significantly worse condition than it was a few hours ago. There were papers strewn around, the contents of multiple shelves had been gutted, and the Torchic that had likely caused all of this was perched on the desk.

"Sorry for all the mess, but I think May might have caught another undocumented Pokémon so it's rather important that I catalogue what I can. Anyways- oh, hello ma'am," he cut himself off when he spotted my mother.

"Connie, pleasure to meet you. Professor Birch I presume?" My mother said in a tone I still couldn't read.

"Uh, yes. What can I do for you?" He said, glancing towards me. I just gave him the general 'I don't know' look with a shrug.

"It's not too important, I was just hoping we might be able to talk after you finish what you needed my son for," she said with what _looked_ like a smile.

"Of course, of course. I can have May finish up the rest of this. Now," he seemed to focus. "Young man, what you did today was brave, but more than a little reckless. Pokémon are dangerous. But you showed a degree of familiarity that I wouldn't have expected from someone who made the same judgement call you did. Do you have any taught experience training Pokémon?"

"No, not beyond the basics. But my dad's the gym leader in Petalburg so I might've picked up a little," I provided with a shrug.

Birch gave me an evaluating look before glancing at my Mom and making a quick 'can we head over there?' gesture. She looked a bit surprised but followed him out of earshot. I exchanged glances with May, who'd popped up from behind the computer while we'd been talking. She was smiling like she knew exactly what was going on and utterly ignored my pleading look.

After a minute or so the adults came back. Birch looked at me with that strange intense look.

"Wallace, would you like to become a Pokémon trainer?"

 _..._

 _I can't have heard that right._

' _can't have heard' my foot, you heard him perfectly._

"I'm... Sorry?" I said in spite of myself.

"May's just about run ragged with all the field work I need done and I'm not much good outside the lab, I need another trainer to work with me and you've already shown some aptitude for working with Pokémon without any real training. So, would you like to become a Pokémon trainer?"

 _There, not only a repeat but reasons too. Why not?_

 _Because being a trainer is literally a lifelong decision, have you ever heard of a trainer who was also a doctor or an engineer? At the very least..._

"May I have some time to think about it?"

"Of course, just let me know when you decide," he said with a nod.

I stood there awkwardly for a moment before Mom put her hand on my shoulder.

"Why don't you head back. It is a rather big decision and I don't think you need crowding while you think about it. I'll head back when I'm done here," she gave me the 'you're excused' nudge, so I made my way out.

I had some time to make my way home, so I walked slowly and thought.

(Connie)

Wallace walked obediently out the door, leaving just myself, the Professor, and his protege in the upturned lab. After the door shut completely and I heard footsteps walking away, I turned back to the man in the disheveled lab coat. Then I gave a rather pointed look at his assistant, who was doing a good job of looking busy but absolutely listening in.

Thankfully, he got the hint. Which was good because most men were dense at the best of times.

"May? Why don't you head on home? You've done enough for today, I'll get the rest of this finished up."

"I know a dismissal when I hear one, I'll see you tomorrow Professor!" She said as she grabbed her bag and jogged out the door. She was gonna run Wallace into the ground, it'd be great.

"Now then, I'm sorry if I worried you with all this, but I don't want Wallace guessing what I'm about to ask," I apologized as I turned to face the scientist.

"That's quite alright ma'am, I tend to get pretty absorbed in my work so it's probably just as well you came by when you did. What did you want to ask?"

"I wanted to ask you about the incident with the Poochyena, I asked Wallace and he gave a rather far-fetched story about the whole thing. So I wanted your account, if that's okay," I fibbed. I hadn't said anything _false_ , but Wallace was as honest as the morning sun. I just thought this would be the best way to find what I was looking for.

"He probably told the truth, it was a rather strange event. I was trying to root the little guy out of some bushes when he'd decided he'd had enough of me sticking my nose in his nest, so he started chasing me. I, uh, well, panicked. I ran back to the trail as quickly as I could and shouted for help. I'd just gotten cornered when Wallace arrived and... Well he just ran up to the Poochyena, grabbed it, and pinned it against a tree and told it off. He... Well..." He scratched at his beard, looking for words.

I was pretty sure I was closing in. "You sound as though there's more to it than my son trying to wrestle with a wild Pokémon," I prodded carefully.

"Well... Are you sure your son hasn't had any practice training Pokémon?" He seemed like he was looking for something too.

I was all but certain we were thinking about the same thing, so I took a gamble.

"He looked older, didn't he?"

Birch stopped scratching his beard out of surprise. "Yes, exactly. Has... Has this happened before?"

"There was one incident involving a science project, some misplaced Pokéblock, and a suspiciously intelligent Pidgey, but nothing this solid," I allowed myself to sigh. Wallace would trust me with his soul if I asked, and here I was giving away personal secrets out of mere curiosity. Time to make some amends.

"I would ask you not to treat him any differently than you would otherwise, but please let me know if anything else happens and hear him out if he has an idea," _nothing_ made Wallace angrier than someone acting like they were immeasurably smarter than him. Smarter was okay, smarter-than-thou was not.

"There aren't enough new ideas nowadays anyway, that shouldn't be a problem. Was there anything else?"

"I think that was everything. Thank you for your time and for indulging my curiosity."

(Wallace)

At this point I was just pretending to think, I'd made my mind up while I was walking home.

Pokémon trainers, _real_ trainers, had almost complete freedom between what they were granted by the scientist sponsoring them and what their team could provide. Everyone was allowed to catch and train Pokémon, but having a trainer card? A Pokédex? Money didn't buy those, opportunity did.

 _Most of our regrets come from the things we never did._

So now I was just killing time wondering how my initial training would go, and whether I'd be working with the professor or May. My gut told me both.

 _I wonder what dad'll think._

It was one of the biggest reasons I hadn't become one before now. Having a gym leader as a dad did little to soften people's expectations.

 _So what's changed?_

I could well just be that someone had _offered_ me the position, things always looked better when they were offered as a reward. But more than that the feeling that I was _supposed_ to do this had been building more and more since I'd gotten out of the truck..

I wanted to become a Pokémon trainer and I wanted to indulge the weird sense of duty, this looked like the best way to do it.

 _Well, that's enough time pseudo-brooding, time to get dinner and tell mom._

Mom had taken the news rather well. The second I'd gotten the words out of my mouth she'd tried to smother me in hugs. Then she'd insisted that we go on an equipment run next morning.

This was how I found myself in front of the door to the lab with a new pack, proper running shoes, several pokeballs, and otherwise one of every item from the Pokémart I could fit in my pack.

Having stood there for several minutes and several reasons not to walk away, I raised my hand and knocked on the lab door.

"Treecko, use pound!" May called out.

The strange green plant-lizard leapt forward and smashed a forelimb into the Zigzagoon, causing the receiving Pokémon to stumble weakly.

May took the opening to hurl a Pokéball at the weakened animal. It collided and absorbed the furry creature, dropping to the ground. It wobbled, again, once more...

*Ting*

"Yes! So anyways, that's how you capture a Pokémon. You need to weaken it first before throwing a Pokéball. It works even better if they're paralyzed or poisoned," she explained as she walked over to collect the Pokéball from where it lay.

I nodded, but couldn't quite keep the frown off my face.

By the end of my first day, I had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted to do.

I checked the sign by the door one more time and knocked.

"Yes? Who is it?" An old woman's voice asked.

"It's Wallace, I just moved into town."

There was the sound of slow steps approaching the door before it creaked open. A very old woman peered out at me from her spectacles with a Skitty plodding at her heels.

"Wallace hmmm? I had an uncle named Wallace. He had something of a fondness for electric types, never knew what became of him. Anyway, is there something I can do for you dear?"

"Well, I understand you're the resident expert on Pokéblocks..."

"Alright then, see you at three Professor!" I called back, closing the door behind me.

First day out on my own. Time to give my probably novice idea the chance it needed to prove idiotic. I made my way down one of the forest trails May had shown me yesterday until I was a few minutes from town.

Here, I sat and waited.

I was prepared to avoid moving for a substantial period of time, water bottle and snacks both within grabbing range. This thankfully proved unnecessary.

About ten minutes in, I heard a bush rustling about thirty feet away. A Poochyena wandered out, apparently not having seen me yet.

Slowly, I moved a hand into my pocket and drew out an Oran berry. Then, gauging carefully , I flicked it to the unaware Pokémon.

It landed about ten feet away, due to my awkward position of course. The dark haired Pokémon jerked its head up to where the fruit had landed. It stood stock still for a moment before creeping forward and sniffing the spontaneous item. It almost appeared to deliberate for a moment before reaching down and snapping it up.

Part one was a success. Now for part two.

I repeated part one, trying to get this berry to land closer to me.

It took barely a quarter as much time for the Poochyena to wander towards this berry and eat it as well.

I didn't get the third berry quite far enough. It landed about fifteen feet from me and my flick had elicited a loud smack from my palm.

I really wasn't sure how I hadn't been detected already, but I could tell the moment it recognized me as human. It went rigid-

Then growled as its tail puffed out.

 _Plan B._

It wasn't advancing, yet, so I reached deliberately into my pocket and pulled out one of the Pokéblocks I'd made with Mrs. Fructus last evening. Carefully angling my hand to the wild Pokémon could see what I was holding, I underhanded it to the growling dog.

It jerked away from the berry mash and growled louder. And yes it did in fact have teeth.

 _Damn, Plan C?_

Before I'd decided best how to respond to the provoked attack, I saw its nose start twitching vigorously. It was surprisingly entertaining to watch it try to keep me in one eye while its nose guided it. Right to where the Pokéblock had landed.

In one quick motion, it gobbled up the entire cube.

I carefully retreated back to Plan B, throwing another block.

It stopped growling and looked a _little_ less guarded.

 _... maybe..._

Two berries and three cubes later and the dark type was just staring at me from where it sat, just out of arm's reach.

I again reached into my pocket and drew out another cube, and held it out in the palm of my hand.

We waited until my arm started to get sore. Once I was about ready to toss it anyway, the Pokémon stood.

Slowly, so slowly, it crept forward. Never once did it stop staring at me while I kept my gaze _not_ pointed directly at it.

I almost dropped the cube when it poked my hand with its snout, apparently checking if I was planning on pouncing. My arm was burning but I remained firm.

Then it ate the offered food and sat down. Right next to me.

I dared a glance at it. It was just staring back at me with red and yellow eyes wearing a curious expression, ears quirked up.

 _Adorable little sucker aren't ya? At least when you're not threatening to bite me._

Feeling brave and maybe just a _little_ impatient, I reached a visibly empty hand towards the Pokémon. It looked a little suspicious, but a not insignificant amount of free food had bought me enough trust to give it a pat. Then a scratch on the scruff, then behind the ears.

In no time at all there was a wild Poochyena with its tongue stuck out rolling around on its back in my lap.

I was so happy I gave it the belly rub of the century.

Between the contented grunts of the newly named 'Mutt' in my lap and my own mental celebrations, I almost didn't hear the bushes behind me rustling. Mutt most certainly did though as he stood straight up on my legs and stared straight at the offending bush, belly rub forgotten.

I looked at where he was staring. I didn't see anything at first, but the colors seemed odd and was that red?

A Ralts poked its head out.

 _Universe, I don't know if you're listening, but thank you._

This was going to be tricky, but I vaguely remembered May's intro to the local fauna. Ralts has some kind of psychic empathy and tended to only approach people who were feeling happy.

I fed Mutt another Pokéblock to distract him before lightly tossing one towards the green haired critter.

It twitched its nose before wrinkling its face and leaning away.

I mentally smacked myself. _Oh yeah the psychic type will totally like the same flavor as the dark type, makes sense._

I gave Mutt another scruff scratch to keep one of us happy while I fished out a different color. This one was met with more success.

It slowly stepped out of the bush, looking more curious about the non-Pokéball throwing human than about the offered food.

Feeling equally curious and determined, I tossed a cube of yet a different color-

It _leapt_ and snached it out of the air, cramming it into its mouth before it hit the ground.

 _Guess he's got a sweet tooth. Or she, I'm not sure._

I fished another piece out and held it in my hand.

Apparently Ralts were really easy to make friends with as long as you were happy and offered something sweet.

It walked forward on its strange gown-feet-things without any visible hesitation and plucked the offered piece out of my hand and ate it before it-

"Hey!"

Too late, it had already nabbed a handful of berries from my open pack and scampered just out of reach. And I could swear it was smirking at me.

"You want berries go get em yourself, Mrs. Fructus has hundreds of 'em."

It chewed cheekily at me.

"Alright, you wanna play? Let's Play!"

I carefully took a protesting Mutt off of my lap and started chasing the newly named 'Imp'. It was startlingly fast for barely coming up to my knee, and it took me a good thirty seconds to finally grab the little thief. Whereupon it gave me a very sad expression.

"Oh don't fuss, you want more Pokéblock?"

It couldn't understand me, or I didn't think it could at least, but it got enough from my emotions to get my meaning if it's happy warbling was anything to go by. I let Imp ride back on my shoulders.

Once I got back to where I'd left my pack...

Mutt was nowhere to be seen but my pack was moving and producing chewing sounds.

"Mutt, dang it!"

Ten minutes and uncountable tag teams later and my pack had been all but cleaned out by my two 'catches' of anything edible and some things that weren't. I really had no idea how I could come up with an excuse for tooth marks on my brand-new Pokédex.

"I think it's time we head back, I wanna show you two to the professor and see if I can get his okay to keep going like this." I shouldered my much lighter pack and started back on the trail. Mutt followed, idly wagging his tail. Imp wandered just behind him, no doubt reading my masked apprehension.

I made a slow pace back, but even as carefully casual as my gate was Mutt started slowing once we got within sight of the buildings.

"If you guys stay close no one will try to catch you."

Imp could apparently feel my honesty as it wandered closer and put an appendage on my leg. I scooped it _(really need to figure out if you're a guy or girl cause calling you 'it' feels weird)_ up and perched it on my shoulders.

"Give me a pat if you want down."

Imp warbled in response, so I started walking. Mutt followed hesitantly.

It was about mid-morning so people were around but rush hour had already passed, not that Littleroot had much of a rush hour.

Though by sheer chance or what else, I stumbled across one of the few faces I knew.

"Good morning Mrs. Fructus!" I called out.

"Oh, hello Wallace. I see you've been busy," she said as she examined Imp atop my shoulders.

"Yup, got a bit of a sweet tooth, this one. Mutt prefers the sour ones," I smiled as I bent down and gave him another ear rub.

"Why what a coincidence, I just so happen to have a few with me," she rifled through her purse and pulled out two blocks. I reached forward but Imp beat me to it, jumping up and springing off of my forehead, snagging the pink one on his way down.

"Imp! Show some manners. You can't possibly still be hungry," I turned to the surprised old lady. "Sorry, he's a bit grabby-"

I was cut off by a surprisingly loud laugh. "I bet you two will get along just splendidly, and here's yours," she tossed the yellow cube to Mutt, who happily snapped it up.

"Do bring those two with you when you visit next," she said with a wave and walked away.

I stood there for a minute. "Looks like you two made another friend, now how about we go visit Professor Birch?"

They followed me the rest of the way to the lab.

I knocked on the door.

"Come in!" The professor shouted from inside.

The lab was in significantly better condition than it had been two days ago, but it wasn't quite back to the pristine order it had been when I'd first seen it.

"Ah, Wallace, I was expecting to see you sooner. I forgot to give you a Pokémon to-"

"That's okay professor, I got it handled," I couldn't quite keep the grin off my face at his flabbergasted expression.

After a long moment he stopped staring at Imp and Mutt and clamped his mouth shut. "You- caught these two without a Pokémon?" He asked slowly.

"Well, technically no. I haven't caught them, they're just following me around cause they like Pokéblock and people don't try to catch them if I'm around," I explained.

"They're- still wild?"

"Not really, other than this one being a bit grabby around food," I gave a pointed look to Imp.

There was another silence, this one felt heavier.

"Do you not _want_ to catch them?" He asked carefully.

"Didn't see much point in doing so. So can I keep going like this?"

"Well, the biggest problem is that I get pretty much all of my data from Pokéballs, but..."

My heart sank a little until I saw how he was glancing around the lab.

"Yeah, I could get you a scanner or something. I won't be able to get it together today though," he looked apologetic.

"Thank you professor. I didn't mean to be trouble. And this is probably going to be about all I can get done today like this, These two did the liberty of cleaning out all the Pokéblock I prepared," I mentioned sheepishly.

"That's quite alright, to be perfectly honest I wasn't even sure you'd have any success today, it being your first day and all. And well done by the way. Your scanner will be ready by tomorrow."

I exited the lab with my two companions in tow and let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I had a good deal of time before I was expected to get home and I was apparently going to need a fairly substantial supply of Pokéblock, so I made my way to Mrs. Fructus' house.

"Now take care dear! And try not to get outsmarted by your company again, would you?"

"I'll do what I can but these two are sharp. Thanks again for the restock!" I called back.

"Nonsense, I couldn't imagine a better use for it other than fattening Feli here," she gave the Skitty a fond scratch. "Now get outa here, your mother must be getting worried by now."

With a last wave, I closed the gate and jogged home. Imp was on her (Mrs. Fructus seemed adamant it was a girl) favorite perch, my shoulders, and Mutt was padding along behind me.

I'd barely knocked and opened the door before Mom dashed into the room and mobbed me with questions and hugs.

"You're back! How was your first day? Who are your new friends? What took you so long? Have you eaten yet?"

"Mom! One thing at a time. First day was good, more on that later. This is Imp and Mutt. They ran me out of Pokéblock so I had to go make more. And no I haven't eaten, I only just finished making more Pokéblock," I listed off.

"Let me get something for you then. So tell me about your first day! What happened? Who'd the Professor start you with?"

The next several minutes passed comfortably as I talked about my relatively exciting morning. Being as nonchalant as I could when I described earning Mutt's trust through free food and belly rubs.

I also pretended not to notice that Mom had gone quiet.

When I finished my recounting of what Birch had told me, I just sat at the table and waited for a response. Mom was quiet for a minute while she worked in the kitchen.

"What you did was very foolish," she stated. I opened my mouth- "but also very brave. You're not stupid, you know Pokémon are dangerous. But you still did your best to do your job without getting anyone _at all_ hurt. But Wallace, I want you to promise me something."

She gave The Mom Look. I was to promise the following.

"If you have to defend yourself, don't hesitate," she said, walking out of the kitchen and giving me a head-hug.

"Don't worry mom, I know how to take care of myself," I said as I reciprocated the hug from my seat. "I promise."

The days turned into weeks as I started honing my methodology. I fell into the habit of scanning any and every pokemon I could. I got data on Poochyena and Ralts (obviously), Zigzagoon, Wurmple, Lotad, Seedot, Surskit, and a lone Wingull. Most of them had wandered away after I'd given them their food and scan. The Professor was quite happy with everything I was bringing in.

May... Didn't seem as happy.

I'd seen the signs but had failed to register what they meant. I inadvertently pushed her past tipping point when I entered the lab with a Wurmple contesting with Imp for headspace.

"Hey Professor, I think I found one that'd be willing to stick around," I said with a cheesy grin as I started slowly prying the clingy insect from my hat, then my hat from it once I got it off.

"Splendid! Can you get its footprints? I got all the materials put away so they should be in their usual spot. Let me know when you're done," he said distractedly as he walked out the door I'd just entered.

I set Cpt. Wiggles down on the workspace and got the soft-plates out. While I was tearing the seal off of a fresh plate, I felt Imp grip the back tighter of my head and give a small, worried warble.

In the relatively short time I'd been traveling with her, I'd become highly accustomed to having her as a warning bell. She was an actual empath where I was a semi-oblivious twelve year old.

This was why I immediately set the plate down despite it already starting to harden and swiveled my head around, careful not to dislodge my psychic tag-along.

No one was there except May carrying a box of folders.

Frowning.

May didn't frown unless she was thinking really hard. And something about her body language...

Imp warbled again and almost seemed to cower behind my head. Even Mutt brought his head up from where he'd been sleeping under the desk, tracking May.

"May, is everything alright?"

She put the box down on the wrong shelf. Hard.

"Of course not. Why would anything be wrong?" She said in that female-exclusive dangerous tone.

 _Damn, lessee, what have I done since moving in that could have cascaded into this? There was the time I accidentally let Mudkip out but she seemed to think that was funny more than anything. I got the weight measurements done like I promised, did I misplace them? It can't have been the nature typing either, she was there while I was doing it._

As I churned through the possibilities, I was only half aware that she was staring at me. Imp tugged on my hair and made another distressed sound.

I snapped back. "May, if there's something the wrong-"

"But nothing's wrong! Everything's been great since you showed up! We've been getting so much done with all the data you collect while the native Pokémon leap into your arms! Professor Birch is as happy as I've ever seen him," her tone was dripping with something dangerous and she wasn't blinking.

 _Jealous. Shit._

"May-" I tried to get a word in.

She ran right over me. "I mean, why am I even here? We don't need to keep most of the Pokémon I catch so we end up releasing most of them anyways, and I can only bring eight or so in on a good day. You on the other hand save us a fortune in used Pokéballs and got no fewer than _twenty three_ samples yesterday," she'd started walking towards where I was standing.

Mutt stood up and growled, moving over to where I was standing.

"Mutt!-" I reprimanded.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get so angry. But why shouldn't he growl at me? I'm just May, I've been doing this since I was six and I can only manage an above average catch rate. You've been at this for less than a month and you've quadrupled the lab's productivity. And you're a Gym Leader's son to boot. _So why am I even here?_ "

Her lips were curved up, but she was not smiling.

"May-"

"I couldn't even-"

"MAY!" I shouted over her. I needed to deal with this _now_.

"What?!" She almost screamed back at me.

Now I could speak, that'd be great if I had any idea of what to say.

"I love doing this May, you introduced me to something I've never taken as much joy from as anything. But if you want me to stop..."

 _All you have to do is ask._

Now why couldn't I say that?

I was silent for a moment too long.

"Then what? Should I ask politely? Should I ask the professor to just let his best 'Trainer' go since I asked? Should I turn _my_ card in since I'm all but useless? _What, Wallace?_ "

"I wouldn't even be doing this if you hadn't brought me to the lab!"

 _Shit. Shitshitshit that sounded so much better in my head-_

I was expecting a slap. I got a remarkably well balanced fist to the face.

Before I could even start recovering, Mutt leapt forward with a snarl and sank his teeth into her leg. She apparently hadn't thought that far ahead and jerked backwards with a startled yelp, Mutt's extra weight caused her to tip all the way over.

"Mutt! Off!" I shouted as I teetered to my feet, idly aware of Imp not being attached to the back of my head.

"Stupid runt! I- aah!" She had moved into a sitting position after Mutt had thankfully come off, only to grab her head and cry out.

 _I didn't see her hit her head, what-_

Imp was on one of the shelves, looking like he was trying to stare a hole through May.

"Imp! Stop!"

Imp's presence lessened as something retracted and May staggered to her feet, shaking her head. She immediately turned around and started limping briskly towards the door.

She almost ran into the professor.

There was a moment of shocked silence from all parties before May slipped by him with a muttered 'excuse me'.

Birch just looked around at the aftermath. There wasn't that much, but my nose was bleeding freely and there was a small trail of red speckles leading away from the desk.

"What happened."

It wasn't a question.

My mother, Ellen, and Professor Birch were having what looked like a heated discussion. We'd agreed to meet at a small coffee shop to _discuss_ what had happened.

I had unwittingly become too valuable of an asset to just drop. May had seniority in spades.

Neither of our parents wanted us around each other when the discussion had started after Birch had explained what had happened.

So here we were, May and I. Standing outside the coffee shop with orders to not speak to or even look at each other while the adults sorted things out.

I'd always hated waiting like this, this just reaffirmed my stance.

Time passed.

The doors opened for the umpteenth time, I looked anyways.

The three of them all looked resigned and unhappy as they marched out. My Mom beelined for me.

She just made the 'follow me' gesture. I did so.

We started walking homeward down the trail back to Littleroot.

"It wasn't as bad as it sounds-"

"The professor was cataloguing his notes on your data and forgot to stop the recording. He showed us what happened."

I shut my mouth.

We didn't talk until we got home.

I was about ready to explode from the tension by the time I closed the front door behind us.

"We have a couple of options," she said simply, taking a seat at the table.

I mutely took the seat opposite.

"Option one, you quit."

My heart dropped through my stomach. Imp shifted uncomfortably from her semi-permanent perch.

"Option two, she quits."

"I can't-"

She held up a hand. "Option three, one of you goes on an Expedition."

 _Wait, what?_

"As in a 'Travel the region with only your Pokémon and backpack' Expedition?" I asked, knowing full well what the answer was.

"Yes."

I was somehow still surprised.

"That... Are those really the only possible solutions?" They all seemed a bit extreme.

"All three of us thought you two would get along. But May still hasn't apologized," she said with a grimace. "So, none of us want you around each other, at least until she's had some time to cool off."

 _The professor needs his data, so neither of us can quit. But we don't know how long it'll take for May to cool off and both of us need to use the lab. One of us needs to leave and we can both keep working._

"I'll go."

"She can't..." Mom trailed off.

She looked at me, visibly surprised. "Honey, you don't have to-"

"I know I don't have to, but... May, isn't a bad person. She's competitive and a bit jealous, but she's also really smart and works really _really_ hard. She'd be leaving behind her childhood home while we only just moved in. I don't want her to feel like we're kicking her out. And besides, I've been kinda wanting to go exploring anyways."

"An Expedition is hardly a bit of exploring Wallace. You'll be gone for... Months," she went quiet and put a hand to her head.

"Mom..." I was again unsure of what to say.

"I was so happy when you started training. You always look just like your father when you're talking to Imp, so engrossed, so content. I never thought you'd be leaving so soon though," she sounded like she was talking more to herself.

I was bad at these things, so I went with the first thing that came to mind. I got up, walked across the table, and gave Mom a hug.

Neither of us moved for a while.

Morning came and Mom insisted we go on another equipment run, even though she'd made sure to buy pretty much everything I might conceivably need when I'd started.

Then I was ready. It really wasn't very much time at all.

My mom, the professor, and I were all standing at the trailhead leading towards Petalburg. May was nowhere to be seen.

"Well Wallace, I have to admit, I never imagined this would happen quite so soon. And if you're not sure-"

I shook my head. "This is what's best for everyone. I'm sure."

Thankfully, he only nodded. "Very well. Here's your Pokénav, I've suggested a route but you might find it easier to just make it up as you go along. That said," he pressed the device into my hand. "Don't lose it."

"I'll be careful," I said as I clipped it to my belt. "Well, I've never liked long goodbyes. Anything you want me to tell dad when I see him?" I asked, turning to mom.

"Just what you told me," she said with a hug.

 _Well, at least I'll have a few days to figure out what that means._

"You can count on it mom. Well then, guess I'll be off," I said with a wave as I started down the trail.

"Take care dear! And please, you can always come back home when you want to!"

"Don't worry, you're gonna have to try harder than this to get rid of me! Oh, and give May my regards!"

One last nod and a wave, and I turned down the trail proper.

This was how my journey began.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well damn, I was hoping that I'd just be able to get this out of my system with the intro. No such luck. Guess I'll just keep making this up as I go. Favorites, follows, reviews, blah blah blah.

ONWARD!

Chapter 2: Fights and Flower Shops

The first day of my expedition was spectacularly uneventful. It wasn't that surprising; I was using trails I knew, but starting tomorrow it was going to be new ground.

Once it the sky started visibly darkening, I decided to look for a place to camp for the night. A little ways off of the path there was a small clearing that looked like a good spot, trees circling a small grassy area with a pond. After finding a good place to set up, I crawled into a conveniently shaped nook in some tree roots, using my sleeping bag as a blanket. It had been clear skies all day and the forecast said it was going to stay that way, so there was no need to set up the tent. Mutt took his usual position perched on my chest while Imp wedged herself under my arm.

"I wonder if I'll be able to keep this up all the way across Hoenn," I pondered.

Mutt groused at me for talking.

"The map the professor gave me shows pretty friendly terrain for a while, but what happens when I get to Mt. Chimney? Or the ocean? I'm not really going to be able to sit under a tree and throw some pokéblocks."

Imp put an appendage on my jaw.

' _Go to sleep.'_

I smiled and gave Imp a pat.

"All right, all right. We'll deal with that when we get to it."

The next two days of walking provided little new data. There was the usual bunch of zigzagoons and poochyenas that wandered away after they'd been fed. I did get another ralts close enough to scan, but he and Imp didn't seem to like each other much.

Finally, after two and a half days of walking I got to the next proper town. Petalburg was bigger than Littleroot - and while that didn't say much, it said about everything it needed to. There were a few more houses, another shop, and most importantly a Gym.

I decided to drop by for a visit.

Thankfully, Dad was already in the front area when I walked in.

"I'm sorry, but the challenge isn't open toda- oh! Wallace, I wasn't expecting you."

"I'm surprised Mom didn't give you a heads up, I'm on my expedition!" I said with a grin.

My father was an intelligent man, but you wouldn't guess it if you saw his face right then.

"Your exp- what?" he sputtered, before collecting himself. "I think we need to talk. Joseph, can you watch the Gym?"

He put his drink down on the table, something he'd randomly ordered from the menu sitting in front of him.

"I was kind of hoping to get you out of your shell when we moved," he commented as he poked his food. "I was not expecting you to embark on a months long trip on your own as a newly minted pokémon trainer less than three weeks after moving in."

"My bad," I responded shamelessly. I was doing what I could to imply that I'd left of my own volition, which I _had_ , but...

No, I didn't want to get my dad involved with this too.

He quirked an eye at me with an evaluating look. "You've already changed."

I felt my smile slip a little. I knew he wasn't unhappy with me... probably.

My silent anxiety was not helped by the long silence that followed. I started to fidget while my brain helpfully provided all kinds of reasons for him to be mad at me.

"Oh, quit worrying. I couldn't be mad at you if I tried right now," he said with a rueful smile. "Actually, if you'd be willing to humor your old man, I agreed to show an old friend's kid the basics of catching pokémon. I'd enjoy your company. What do you say?"

"Hmm, I'm really not sure..." I mock-stroked my chin.

He gave me The Look.

"Of course, father dearest."

"That's what I thought," he said, reaching across the table to tousle my hair. "Brat."

As it was wont to do, Life drop-kicked our plans into the nearest fire.

"Norman! You're back, listen, it's that kid what's-his-name, Colin I think. He got into the strength room somehow, locked the doors and won't come out."

Dad wearily pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Of course this would happen now. Why would it happen any time but now? Ugh, okay, Wallace?" He turned to me. "Wally's going to be here any minute but I really need to take care of this and I have no idea how long it'll take. Would you mind showing him the ropes for me?" He asked with a glance at Imp, still perched on my shoulders.

"Sure, who should I be looking for?"

"Brown mid-length hair, probably in a white shirt, shy, about your age. You'll probably notice him when you see him. Sorry for making you do this."

"Eh, it wasn't your fault. Want me to bring him back here when we're done?"

He gave me a thumbs up as he walked out of the room, already talking to one of his other trainers.

And so I sat in the entrance area, idly scratching Mutt's scruff as the time passed. It was weird too, I was getting the same feeling I had before May, that creeping sense of deja vu. Like I'd already met him. Hopefully this would go a little better.

Dad was right though, I couldn't have been waiting more than a few minutes when the doors slid open.

A boy that fit Dad's description and pinged my weird familiarity walked in. "Hey, Wally, right?" I asked, standing.

"Oh, um, yes. I was, uh, looking for Norman. I mean if he's around-"

"Don't worry, he told me what's up. I'm sorry to say this, but something came up and he had to run, so I'm going to be teaching you instead. Name's Wallace," I offered my hand.

"Oh, Wally. But you already knew that," he said, ducking his head as he shook my hand.

"No worries. The peanut gallery here here are Imp and Mutt, respectively." I motioned to the two tag-alongs. Imp warbled in response and Mutt gave a wag.

"So what do you know so far about catching pokémon?" I asked as we walked out the door and started toward the trail I'd arrived from earlier today.

"Not much, but you're supposed to weaken it before throwing a pokéball, right?"

"That's one way of doing it," I answered carefully.

Dad had said that Wally was the son of a friend, so I really didn't want to screw this up. But if Wally was looking to my dad for training then neither he nor his family was likely to know much about the details. And besides, Wally struck me as someone who would do better with some strangely shaped friends than a combat team.

"There's more than one way?" He asked, sounding more surprised that I would have expected.

"A few," I acquiesced. I didn't actually know about any other methods than the normal one and my particular offshoot, but if I came up with literally the only alternative method in the world I'd eat my hat.

"I can show you the more common way if you'd like, but my dad would be better at than I ever could," I elaborated after realizing I'd zoned out again.

He seemed genuinely confused. "How can there be more than one way? I thought a pokéball couldn't catch anything that wasn't weakened."

"By not using pokéballs, neither of these two has ever been inside one so far as I know," I gestured to my companions.

Wally stopped, his mouth hanging open.

" _How?_ " He finally got out.

"Allow me to show you," I grinned back.

We walked further down the trail until the sounds of Petalburg had faded and I was relatively sure no one was going to stumble across us. Then I veered off the trail. I made the 'follow me' gesture when Wally looked hesitant.

I made sure to move slowly so he'd be less likely stumble, he was already looking fairly shaky on the untouched soil.

After a few minutes of walking I decided we were still close enough to the trail but far enough out to have a reasonable chance of being found. So I sat down under a tree in a clearing and patted the space next to me.

Wally looked hesitant but sat down anyways.

"This part's a bit boring, now we just wait until we hear something moving and work from there," I explained as I got out some pokéblocks.

"Then...?"

"It'll probably better if you see for yourself, give me a tap if you see anything."

We waited in silence, which thankfully gave me time to contemplate the nostalgia's sudden reappearance. I'd noticed it cropped up sometimes with places, but mostly with people and some pokémon. And particularly after I'd been hit by it I almost felt like I could remember what happened next.

Like Wally catching a ralts right after I met him.

 _They're good at avoiding people; I've only found two thus far. That doesn't preclude not finding a third, though. We'll just have to see._

After a few minutes of quiet I decided to push it a little.

"This is taking a little while and I just thought of something that might help our luck," I said as I tossed the pokéblock I'd been holding to Mutt and Imp. "Ralts are empaths and tend to approach people who're happy. The next best thing is happy pokémon."

Wally looked thoughtful while I dug out another cube and offered it to him.

Then I pointed Imp at him. "Go get 'im."

The look on Wally's face was priceless.

"What-" was all he was able to get out before Imp pounced and started crawling over him, trying to get him to open his hand.

I couldn't help but start laughing at the scene, and I'm pretty sure Mutt was smirking as well. The laughter apparently proved infectious too as Wally started giggling while Imp was still doggedly trying to get to the precious cube.

Half a minute later, Imp had finally gotten his fingers open and was triumphantly sitting on his head, chewing on her prize. While our collective chuckling was dying down, I heard a bush rustle on the opposite side of the clearing.

 _Please- YES!_

A ralts was sticking its head out of the bush, looking unsure of whether it should approach or not.

"Hey little guy, come to join the fun?" I made sure to keep my tone light, this one looked more skittish.

It obviously didn't say anything back, so I pulled out another pokéblock. Making sure to tilt my hand so it could see it _wasn't_ a pokéball before tossing it lightly.

The food landed on the ground with a soft pat. It's nose twitched curiously as it stepped out of the bush. It got close enough to give it a good wiff, but didn't pick it up, just staring at us from a distance.

 _Doesn't like sweets? Maybe... bitter?_

I threw another block, a little bit closer to our group. This time it walked quickly to where it fell and picked it up, then promptly sat down and started gnawing on it.

"Well, I guess not all ralts are flying types too," I said as I shot a look at Imp.

Imp stuck her tongue out at me, still sitting on Wally.

 _I am going to be completely unsurprised when you start speaking. But that's later, focus on now._

I continued tossing cubes as it ate them, but it seemed reluctant to get within conceivable grabbing range. I looked back at our group while I thought about what to do. Chasing was both unlikely to work and against what this method was about besides. But if I wanted to get it closer to the group...

An idea hit me.

"Hey, Wally. Take these and go sit by that bush," I said as I handed him my case of bitter pokéblocks.

"What? What am I-"

"Just do what I did, I don't think it wants to get closer to the group, but it might approach you if you're alone."

He gave me a fish out of water expression, which I dutifully ignored while I made shooing motions. Eventually he swallowed dryly and stood up, placing Imp on the ground next to me before creeping over to the bush I'd indicated.

"It knows you're here. You don't need to worry about being quiet. It's just not sure we're not planning on throwing pokéballs at it."

I mentally slapped myself as Wally cringed, causing the ralts to cringe as well. But eventually he made it to the bush I'd pointed to and sat down.

Then he looked back at me. I just made tossing motions and pointed my eyes to the shy psychic type, who was making sure to keep all of us in sight.

Wally swallowed again and carefully opened the case before picking a piece out of it and tossing it to the pokémon. It looked confused at the change in situation, but slowly crept towards Wally at the temptation of free food.

I gave Wally a thumbs up. He tossed another piece.

Step by step, the wild pokémon crept closer and closer. Finally, it sat down right next to Wally and quirked its head at him. Wally glanced back at me.

I took a sweet pokéblock out of my bag and held it to Imp, who immediately snatched it out of my hand and swallowed it.

Wally _carefully_ held a cube out in his palm.

The ralts looked at him for a long moment before reaching its forelimbs out and gently plucking the food from his hand. Then it sat down on his leg and started eating its latest acquisition.

If Wally's eyes opened any wider they'd have popped out. After a moment he gave a small, halting laugh.

His new friend gave a contented warble and continued to chew on its prize.

"What do you think about a name?" I asked through my own grin.

He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Orsus," he said with a nod. Orsus warbled approvingly, I think. Might've been the food.

"Orsus?" I asked, I honestly didn't know where he'd gotten that.

Wally looked a little sheepish. "It's Latin. Anyways, what now?"

"Now we go tell everyone the good news."

Apparently, the human head and shoulders were actually designed as a riding surface for ralts. My hypothesis was supported by Imp perching on my shoulders as usual while Orsus was doing the same to Wally while we walked back through Petalburg back to the gym.

And forgive me if I was feeling a bit smug, but Wally looked like he was walking on cloud nine and Orsus looked like he was enjoying his new height almost as much as Imp.

Dad managed to clear up whatever had happened at the gym by the time we got back.

"I see you two were successful," he observed with a smile.

"I would like to think so," I remarked as Wally fed Orsus another cube, eliciting a happy warble.

"Well, I'm glad things went well. Sorry I had to dash Wally."

"It's fine, I'm glad you sent me with Wallace actually. I really like his method," he said with a happy smile, giving Orsus a pat.

Dad gave me a quirked eyebrow.

'Later,' I mouthed to him. He just shrugged and looked back to Wally.

"I'm glad then. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Wally snapped back to the present. "Uh, no sir. I should probably be getting back."

With a few stuttered goodbyes, Wally walked out the door.

Once it was closed, Dad turned and looked at me. "So what's the magic behind wearing psychic types as hats?"

Despite my efforts, we wound up gravitating towards Dad's office. So I wound up having to explain myself from the interrogation seat in front of Dad's desk.

It was rather difficult to miss someone tensing up when they were in the middle of your field of view.

"So... yeah," I finished stupidly.

Dad just looked at me. This wasn't the 'you've changed' look, it wasn't even The Look.

Just looking.

Imp fidgeted on my shoulders, no doubt sensing my twitching discomfort.

"I never quite had it in myself to be a pacifist," he finally said in a neutral tone. "Always enjoyed battles too much. But you said you made it all the way here without fighting _anyone_ so far?"

I nodded silently.

"You must've been pretty light-footed, then. The trail you used is frequented by the newer trainers around here."

"Yeah, Imp usually gives me a heads up when she feels someone. Helps me get around people," I explained.

Dad nodded. "That should work for a while, but you're going to get cornered at some point or another. Either by a trainer or an irritated pokémon. Have you been training your team?"

I cringed. "Not... No."

Dad crossed his arms. "Wallace, I know you're not dumb enough to think you'd get all the way through your expedition without needing to fight at least in self defense."

"I know, there's going to be someone pushy enough to force my hand or _something_ is going to happen. I just don't..." I trailed off, putting a hand on Mutt.

"Don't want to get anyone hurt, I know. _Every_ trainer feels that way. No one wants to see their team injured, even the professionals. But it's going to happen, so the best you can do is make sure you're prepared when it finally does. Here," he stood and made the 'follow me' gesture.

With mounting anxiety, I stood and followed.

We walked back into the Gym proper and through the challenge doors, not stopping until we'd reached Dad's arena.

He palmed a pokéball. My heart dropped through my gut.

"Relax, I wouldn't put you through a real fight as you are right now. I'd be more than reluctant to do so until you have at least a couple badges. I just want to see how your team responds to a battle situation."

He tossed the white and red sphere to the ground where it ejected a linoone. Dad knelt down and muttered a few things I couldn't make out. It raised its head to look at him before blinking in what looked like understanding.

Then it dashed towards Mutt.

Neither I or the dark type was able to react to the alarming burst of speed before it closed distance entirely. Thankfully the normal type stopped a foot short and bristled its hair threateningly.

Mutt recovered and stood his ground, growling at the larger pokémon.

Dad looked at me.

I swallowed.

"Mutt, use tackle!"

He seemed surprised for the space of a second before bounding forward and slamming himself into the Linoone.

It barely twitched, but Dad nodded.

"Inruo, back!" He barked. The pokémon didn't miss a beat, putting distance between itself and Mutt. Mutt trotted over to my side, still growling with his tail puffed out.

Dad looked at me again and tilted his chin back towards Inruo.

"Mutt, use howl."

He looked confused for longer this time, but after looking up at me he eventually acquiesced and loosed a small howl.

And now...

"Mutt use tackle!"

He thankfully didn't wait, instead just sprinting forward and throwing himself against the linoone for the second time. He all but bounced off. Dad seemed satisfied anyways.

"Mutt, back!" He ran back to my side, looking a little shaken at how little he'd managed.

I gave him a pat. "You did well."

I stood straight and made eye contact with Dad. He gave a pointed look to Imp before looking back to me.

 _Damn._

I reluctantly took Imp off of my shoulders, despite her nervous warble.

"You'll be fine," I said as comfortingly as I could.

Dad thankfully gave me a chance to react instead of forcing Imp's hand. He muttered another quiet command and Inruo did the same bluff-charge he'd done with Mutt.

"Imp, use confusion!"

She responded almost immediately, standing still and...

Psychic attacks didn't have much flair, save for the exceptionally powerful ones. Confusion was nothing more than a vague, prismatic sheen in the air between the Imp and her target with a barely perceptible sound like a whistle.

The linoone twitched and shook its head until the attack faded.

Dad nodded again. "I think that's enough for now."

I disguised my relieved slump by scooping Imp up and putting her back on my shoulders, trying to emotionally express an apology.

"You could probably stand to do some more training on your own, but I just wanted to make sure they'd obey you in a fight. Not being conventionally domesticated and all. Now," he clapped his hands. "It sounds like you need to restock your pokéblocks if I'm not mistaken."

The rest of my stay in Petalburg was fairly brief. I spent the rest of that evening with the resident little old lady and her skitty replenishing the pokéblocks I'd given to Wally, and I was actually able to get her to accept some payment for the dent in her stock.

I said my goodbyes to Dad the next morning, with promises to train more and keep in touch.

There were a couple trails to Rustboro, but one of the biggest objectives of an expedition was to collect data, so I took the most scenic one I thought I could manage. It would pass me by the coast before getting on into Petalburg Woods.

I also promised myself I'd stop avoiding trainers.

If I was being perfectly honest I'd much rather never have to make my team fight, but Dad had made sure he'd driven the point home that that _wasn't_ going to happen. So I was going to do my damndest to make sure my team was the one walking away.

I'd barely made it ten minutes out of Petalburg before I locked eyes with someone.

"Hey!" The kid shouted as he stood from where he'd been sitting. "The name's Billy! You wanna battle?"

 _Not really._

"Sure," I made myself smile.

"Go Zigzagoon!" He threw a pokéball to the ground where it burst open and released a smallish zigzagoon.

"Mutt, you're up," I said with an encouraging smile. He seemed to understand what was going on as his tail puffed out and he started growling.

"Now. Mutt, use howl!" He loosed a long howl before fixing eyes with the zigzagoon again.

"Zigzagoon, use tackle!" The brown critter darted forward and slammed into Mutt who stumbled back with a growl.

"Mutt, use tackle!" The hit was hard enough to send the offending racoon skidding away.

"Use tail whip!" It whirled around and smacked its tail across Mutt's face, he cringed but didn't seem particularly hurt.

"Tackle again!" Dark fur barreled into brown, sending it tumbling. The pokémon got up again, but it was obviously slow. "Ok, I think that's enou-"

"Zigzagoon, use tackle!" Billy shouted across me. The attack was slow enough for Mutt to avoid it fairly easily.

"Billy, I think he's had enough-"

"Come on! Tackle!" Another miss.

"Billy!"

"Tackle!" A glancing hit.

I frowned, harder than I was already.

 _Ugh, fine._

"Mutt, tackle!" The slow moving normal type failed to avoid the attack, it gave a huff of defeat from where it stopped tumbling.

"Dang it! You're in for it now!" Billy yelled as he pulled another pokéball out of his pocket and threw it as he withdrew his fallen zigzagoon. "Go Seedot!"

I glanced at my own charge, he wasn't in too bad of shape yet but I would need to be careful.

"Mutt, tackle!"

"Seedot, Bide!"

 _Wha- shit!_

I wasn't fast enough to countermand before Mutt plowed into the now rumbling grass type.

"Mutt, back!" I ordered, knowing what was about to happen.

Mutt made it to my side just in time for the Seedot to explode forward and smash itself into his side. He let out a startled yelp as he was thrown several feet away. He wasn't moving too well when he got up, but he was still moving.

"Mutt, that's enough. Imp, confusion!"

"Seedot, harden!" The defensive technique did nothing to mitigate the psychic impact, as was shown by the plant rolling onto its side and making a panicked clicking sound.

This added to Mutt's tackle, the other pokémon wasn't looking too good.

"Billy, we're done-"

"We can still win this! Seedot, use bide!" It wobbled to its feet and promptly hurled itself into the nearest rock.

I sucked breath in between my teeth, that looked painful.

"Aw come on, we almost had it!" Billy shouted angrily, kicking the dirt.

"Billy, that was disappointing," I said, trying to muffle most of my anger.

"Hey, I didn't fight that badly-"

"I'm not talking about our fight, you fought well. I'm talking about how you treated your pokémon."

"What?" He looked genuinely confused, I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

"You made them fight even when you knew they were in bad shape. You treated your team like they were disposable," I was trying and failing to not bite my words out. This kid was everything I hadn't liked about May's method.

"I can always just take them to the pokécenter, they'll be fine," he said dismissively, recalling the seedot to its pokéball.

"Billy, would you like it if you smashed _your_ head against that rock?" I gestured to the offending sediment.

"What? No-"

"Then do you think your seedot enjoyed it?"

It was a little satisfying and a little exasperating to watch all three of his neurons start firing.

"If you treat your pokémon with more respect, you may find things work out better. Now, don't you have a pokécenter to get to?"

After the fight I gave each of my fearless champions a few berries and time to nap before we started moving again. I wanted to avoid bringing them to a pokécenter if I could, since it would entail technically 'catching' them, but if they were really hurting or fainted I knew what I'd do.

Once we got to the shoreline I did some baiting and was able to get two more wingulls and a marill within scanning range.

Once I'd gotten my data I decided to just keep going down the beach, the marill wandered after me for a while but eventually grew bored and ambled away.

I wasn't trying very hard to get more pokémon to follow me either. Having too much of an entourage would make it difficult to collect data.

After walking a bit further down the shore and having a very simply-worded conversation with a fisherman who tried to fight me with a baby magikarp, I came to a small cabin at the end of the beach. Following the trail back inland quickly brought me towards the encroaching Petalburg Forest.

It was starting to get late though, so I stopped within sight of the forest and set up camp.

"Looks like we're headed for the forest tomorrow," I mused quietly while I set my ground pad out. "Wonder if anyone else is going to join our little team."

I wasn't really worried about what the forest might bring. We were still in southern Hoenn so we weren't likely to run across much new and the pokénav tagged it with a low danger rating.

Still, felt like it would be better to be prepared than not...

The pokémon here were weird. There were more bug-types than I would've expected.

As in _way_ more.

"I honestly thought these trees were white for a second," I muttered to myself, scanning the umpteenth silk pod without stopping.

I'd also spotted a few strange looking green and tan mushrooms that had scampered away when is gotten too close and scared me half to death in the process. I hadn't found any more since though so I was going to have to be careful if I spotted any others.

Also...

"Hey, you wanna battle?"

 _Trainers_

I'll be the first to admit, I was more concerned with moving quickly than getting as much data as I could. I didn't want to sleep in the forest if I could avoid it. I could also camp outside and make trips back in once I got through, so I figured there was little harm moving this quickly.

The problem was the number of trainers I ran into doing this. I'd already had to battle my way through a few more avid bug enthusiasts, so my team wasn't in perfect shape. Then Imp gave me a pat and a quiet warble, pointing my head to where the trail curved left out of sight.

I had already spent longer in here than I'd wanted and I wanted to give my two companions a chance to rest. On the other hand none of the fights so far had been very difficult and I'd promised not to avoid trainers.

Unfortunately I thought for long enough that the decision made itself for me. Imp warbled again, a little more urgently. Before I could find a plausible place to hide an average looking man in a green jacket wandered into sight and spotted me.

"Oh, hello there!" He called out with a wave.

 _Doesn't seem like he wants to fight..._ I thought as I cautiously returned the greeting.

He glanced around at the surrounding foliage by the trail before looking back at me. "Excuse me, but have you seen any shroomish around? I-"

I stopped paying attention when Imp gave another warble and pointed my head back down the path.

"Excuse me," I cut him off as politely as I could. "But was anyone else with you?"

He looked confused, turning to look down the path he'd just come. "No, I'm on my own. Why-"

An irate looking teenager dressed in blue rounded the bend. I could see him lock on to the still unnamed man and start marching forward with a sneer.

"You just had to hang out in the woods didn't you? I got sick of waiting, time for you to cough up old man!" He yelled as he approached.

"Eek, you there! You're a trainer right? Help me!" He said somewhat pathetically as he used me as a meat shield.

I instinctively dropped into a more guarded stance, though against who I wasn't sure. This was apparently taken as me accepting the plea.

"You wanna go, punk? No one stands in the way of Team Aqua! Let's go!" He punctuated his shout by throwing a pokéball that released a poochyena.

Not having much of a choice...

"Mutt, howl!"

"Poochyena, sand-attack!"

I glared at him.

"Mutt, tackle! Imp, confusion!"

"What? You can't-" he spluttered as both attacks connected with their target.

"Watch me! Again!"

And that was all it took. I felt a little bad, looking at the other dark type fall to the ground; it couldn't have seen that coming any more than it's trainer.

"You cheating little-"

"The Rules," I talked over him. "Apply to recreational fights between pokémon. They mandate conduct between trainers and how the standard official match progresses. You, on the other hand, were literally just trying to rob someone. Are you honestly going to accuse me of cheating while you actively broke the law?"

He seemed surprised.

 _Arceus, are you rationing the sense you're giving people? Cause you're making an awful lot of idiots._

He growled under his breath. "This isn't the last you'll hear of us!" And with that he recalled his fallen pokémon and ran back the way he came.

I heard the man behind me let out a relieved breath.

"Thank you. I'd have been toast if you hadn't stepped in." He deliberated a moment before brightening. "I know! You're a trainer right? I'll just give you a great ball for your trouble."

"I don't use pokéballs."

"That way I can-" he dropped the blue and white sphere he'd pulled out.

I was still feeling a little irritated at having had to defend a grown man, so I started talking before he asked any more stupid questions.

"Yes, I am a trainer. No, I don't use pokéballs. Yes, I am on an expedition. No, I really don't use pokéballs. Finally, if you really want to thank me make sure you can defend yourself the next time someone threatens you with an irate _puppy_."

Having said my piece, I turned down the trail and walked away.

I felt his eyes on my back all the way to the bend.

The rest of my time in the forest was uneventful, so I was able to get to Rustboro Lake before the sun got all the way down. After a bit of quick scouting, since daylight was fading quickly, I decided to set up behind some berry bushes. There was a small building within sight of where I made camp, but the lights were off so I didn't worry too much about camping so close.

I also took the liberty of swiping a few berries off the bushes I'd crashed behind. I'd have to wait until I got to Rustboro to find a berry blender, but that was no reason to to stock up.

An idle glance showed me that the lights were on in the building I'd slept near, the sunrise also gave me enough light to read the sign.

 _Pretty Petal Flower Shop, might be worth a look._

The main product of the shop was, surprise, flowers. There were a few other though, things like berry seeds, a comprehensive flora guide of Hoenn, and a TM for Dig that all found their way into my pack. I was certain I'd find a use for it, but I wasn't quite sure I wanted to use it yet.

After I was done there, I turned right around and walked back into the forest. I'd scanned and endless number of silk pods during my run through yesterday, but I still had most of an ecosystem to document.

I'd spotted a couple small blue birds in the trees earlier and given how quickly they'd flown away I was guessing they would be the hardest to scan. So I decided to start there.

I made my way back to a clearing I'd noted yesterday and scanned the treeline, looking for the telltale shade of blue. After locating a group of the birds I approached.

Their calls shifted once I got close, I was no expert but they sounded more like warnings.

Setting down my bag, I pondered how to do this. They could already see me and I could see them, but the scanner had a fairly limited range, ten feet at the absolute most. I would need to get them to come to me.

"Feel free to wander around you two, I'm probably going to be here awhile," I gestured towards the clearing while I set about scattering some pokéblocks.

My travelling company glanced at each other before Mutt started sniffing the ground and wandering around. Imp stayed perched on my shoulders.

I aimed the pokéblocks so the closest handful would be in scanning range but the furthest ones far enough for even the most skittish pokémon to still approach. I sat down and palmed my scanner so I wouldn't have to move when something got within range.

Now, all there was to do was wait.

Between the warm sun, cool breeze, and relative quiet of the forest I eventually nodded off to sleep. I don't think I was out for more than a hour, given the movement of the sun.

I would have probably slept the day away though if something hadn't woken me. That something specifically being a clawed weight settling on top of my head.

I simply sat still while I drudged my mind from its unexpected slumber and took stock of the situation. Something was on my head; said something had clawed toes, didn't seem to weigh very much given its size, and had made flapping sounds. Thus my deduction was that there was a taillow perched on my head.

Scanning my eyes around showed me that Mutt was blinking blearily up at me from my side but did not seem to register my headware as a threat. Imp was eating the pokéblocks I'd laid out.

A pointed twinge of annoyance brought her attention back to me and I gave her a stern look.

She continued eating.

 _Cheeky little rugrat, see if I carry_ you _the rest of today._

Unfortunately, this still left me in a predicament. I had thankfully kept my grip on my scanner, but it was still pointed in the direction of where Imp was leppa picking the scattered candies. I could either try waiting for the taillow to move on its own and hope it landed nearby, or move to scan it and risk scaring it away.

I pondered for a moment.

 _If it was brave enough to actually land on me, then it probably isn't going to immediately panic if I move a little._

Very slowly, I started raising my scanner. The bird remained either unperturbed or unaware as it didn't move. Once I got the scanner pointed as best as I could, I pressed the button on the side. I'd half expected the click of the camera's shutter to scare it away.

The bird still didn't move.

This left we with a somewhat different problem.

 _I'd rather not scare away a pokémon with a propensity for being friendly to people, but I really need to keep surveying the woods. Guess I'll just get up and try to give it some pokéblock. I'd rather not scare away a pokéblock as an apology._

I leaned forward very deliberately, giving it ample opportunity to fly away. It remained perched on my head. I continued the motions of getting up until...

Well, until I'd gotten up.

The pokémon seemed not to care, I wasn't even sure it was awake.

After standing there for a very long moment, I gave an internal shrug and went about my work.

Over the rest of the day, the only notable thing I achieved was spotting and scanning a cluster of shroomish before scaring them away. The flying type remained happily seated on my cranium, much to Imp's displeasure.

"I would let you take priority if you hadn't eaten the pokéblock you know," I shot a look to the pouting psychic type. She gave a buzzing warble and puffed out her cheeks.

My next destination was the flower shop I'd wandered through this morning. I wanted to get another look at the TMs before the shop closed.

By the time I got back to where I'd woken up this morning, my awareness of my most recent companion had faded to cursory. Which was why I was so startled when it gave a loud chirp and leapt off of my head the second I opened the door.

The taillow flew several laps around the empty shop before the owner walked in from the back door.

"What is making all the racket-"

The blue feathered bundled made a hard turn and beelined for the owner before coming to a full stop and perching on her head.

We were all so startled that none of us spoke. I opened my mouth to apologize when I saw the expression on the owner's face.

"Fez, is that you?" She asked, sounding both hopeful and tense somehow.

The bird gave a loud chirp and flapped a few times.

"You- you stupid, little, bird brained..." She took the pokémon off of her head and gave it a hug.

I remained silent, exchanging a glance with Mutt who seemed as confused as I was at the scene.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry. Are you the one who let this one in here?" She asked, though I thought I caught a tremor in her voice.

"Yes. Is...?" I was unsure of what question I wanted to ask or how to ask it.

"He's mine, yes. He likes sleeping outside but we had a storm a month or so ago and he turned up missing. I'd frankly given up on him coming back," she explained, reaching up to give the bird a scratch under the feathers. "Thank you for bringing him back."

"Well, glad to be of service then. At least that explains why he's so comfortable around people."

I wound up camping near the flower shop again since I didn't want to make the three hour trek to Rustboro just to have to make it back tomorrow morning. I still had work to do in Petalburg Forest.

Also, the aptly named Fez had little apparent trouble re-acclimating to his roles of mascot, headwarmer, security camera, and vacuum. The owner of the flower shop, Theodora by the name tag I'd missed, kept trying to get me to buy things so she could give me discounts.

It had been a few days since I'd gotten through the forest and I'd initially planned to have moved on from it by now, but no matter how I looked at the ecosystem, I was missing either an omnivore or herbivore from my setup. It had been almost five days since I first made it through the woods to find the missing pokémon. It was also more than a little irritating once I realized I'd already passed several of them.

People never looked up, I was no exception.

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered to myself, looking into the canopy at the group of slakoths.

It took me a little while to find a tree I thought I could climb, then it took me twice as long to actually climb it. The only reason this worked was that slakoths were apparently the slowest pokémon in the history of ever.

I was able to get close enough to scan about half a dozen out of the group before I'd decided I'd had enough of pretending not to look down. Once I made it back to terra firma I finished up my ecosystem records and made my way back to the shop.

"Heading off then?" Theo asked from the counter after the customer she'd been helping left.

"I'm afraid so. I still have most of Hoenn to cover before I get to start setting roots again," I answered with a sideways frown. My time at the shop had been pleasant since I'd inadvertently returned Fez.

"I understand dear, it's been a pleasure having you though. It can get a bit lonely around here is all."

"Well, as I understand a flying type who is to remain unnamed should do an admirable job of making sure you're never alone," I smiled back.

"Thanks to you that is. I really can't thank you enough for that, really. If you ever find yourself around these parts again drop by and visit won't you?"

"I _guess_ I could try to find the time," I gave an exaggerated sigh. "Until then, take care!"

I gave a wave and walked out the door. Time for Rustboro.

A/N: Realized that if I was going to be taking a semi-realistic approach to this then there's no feasible way to scan an entire ecosystem just walking through it once. I also haven't decided about the gyms yet, going to need to make my mind up soon.

But soon doesn't mean now, I'll figure it out later.

Also, thanks to both Decidedly Deciduous and St Elmo's Fire for helping me figure out the grammar and capitalization.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Someone stop me, this story is only gaining momentum the more I write. Please, I need to study for finals.

Chapter 3: A Rocky Start

I made a mental note to get ahold of a fishing rod as soon as I could. I had already put off my study at the coast since I didn't have one and now I was going to have to revisit Rustboro Lake for the same reason.

I didn't make quite as good time as I would have hoped, mostly due to a couple pushy trainers and a double battle that followed. I made it to Rustboro City just in time for the lunch rush.

I never liked cities much. Too crowded, too loud, the smell, etc. Thankfully, I had little reason to hang around. I was studying pokémon, not the people who trained them. With a bit of luck I might even be able to be able to get out of here again before nightfall.

First things first, though. I'd promised Mom that I'd get a Nav-Call chip or whatever it was called while I was here.

Using my pokénav, I found my way to the Devon Corporation building. Three stories tall with the same pseudo-romantic architecture I'd seen throughout the city. Steeling my nerves, I walked towards the doors-

Then immediately had to jump out of the way away as Imp warbled in alarm right before someone in the same blue getup as the mugger in the forest came sprinting out the door.

"Out of the way, punk!" He yelled without stopping.

"No, wait! Please come back!" Another man cried, running out the door a moment later.

 _Oh, you have to be kidding me._

The man I'd saved in the forest didn't seem to notice me as he took off after the mugger, which was probably for the best because I wasn't feeling very sympathetic.

But...

I sighed and brought a hand up to my face.

 _Mom and Dad raised me better than this._ I thought with resignation before jogging down the street after them. I also pulled out my pokénav, I probably wouldn't be able just look and say 'if I was a mugger that's where I would hide' but it was worth checking.

I glanced over the navigation hologram while I jogged, Rustboro was a little strange in that it fairly abruptly turned from city into forest in any given direction. Not much urban sprawl for somewhere so busy. Unfortunately, this meant that they could have a hideout just about anywhere around the city.

On the other hand, that had been one thug without his pokémon out physically grabbing something out of the hands of someone inside the building where they worked, so the whole 'planning ahead' thing might have evaded him. And if that were the case...

My eyes locked on to a small yellow triangle with an exclamation point inside of it.

' _Caution. Tunnel under construction. Map system incomplete. Pokémon Danger Rating II.'_

I pocketed the device and kept jogging.

I kept a fair, but not exhausting pace. Balanced, somewhere between catching up and not doing so exhausted. It only took me a couple minutes to find one of the faces I'd been looking for.

He was wringing his hands while looking nervously down the road where it went from paved to dirt.

I'll give you a hint; it wasn't the grunt.

"Not again, I was in the building! I was home free! Oh, they'll have my job for this," he said, pacing at the trailhead like the dirt was made of lava. After another nervous glance around, he spotted me.

"Oh, you're the one from the forest! Could you please help me? That ruffian just stole the goods I was supposed to deliver and took off down this trail, but I don't have a pokémon..."

"Fine. What should I be looking for?" I asked tiredly.

"It'll be a locked briefcase with our company's logo, There should be some paper schematics inside. I'm sorry for the trouble again," he apologized, still wringing his hands.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be back."

I started down the trail.

It only took about twenty minutes for me to spot the tunnel entrance. Rusturf Tunnel was being built to bypass the nature preservation that made up most of the Hoenn forests _and_ Mt. Chimney. It'd have been great if the tunnel wasn't filled with noise and light-sensitive pokémon.

No matter. I had a briefcase to collect.

I approached the entrance to the tunnel and spotted _another_ concerned middle aged man wringing his hands while looking down the path.

"Excuse me, did you see someone in a blue uniform run past here?" I asked as I slowed to a walk.

"Oh aye! I saw someone alright! That ruffian took my darlin' Peeko and yelled somethin' or other 'bout a hostage! Please, won't yeh help?" He asked, sounding distressed.

"Calm down. What species is 'Peeko'?" I asked, trying to think of what kind of pokémon would be given a name like that.

"She's an adult wingull. Please hurry, the tunnel's proper dangerous and they've been in there fer a right spell."

I nodded and entered the cave - and it really was more of a cave than a tunnel at this point. The only path was defined by the naturally formed walls of stone. Thankfully, there were construction lights scattered around sufficient enough to illuminate the path.

I made a shushing motion to Mutt as we walked and his footfalls became almost silent.

After a short minute of walking I heard a very sudden, loud noise further in. Following it led me around a bend and brought me within sight of a Team Aqua grunt barking commands at his poochyena with a briefcase in one hand and a tied wingull in the other. The small pink pokémon that sat in front of him inhaled before letting out another pounding roar.

Another tackle sent the whismur, if my memory was correct, scampering away. I felt a little bad as I scanned it, but not enough to pass up free data. Looking back around the corner showed that the gang member hadn't spotted me yet, but I had no way to approach him without being seen.

So I stepped into sight and walked forward, hands in my pockets.

"Arrgh, are you kidding me? What do you want punk? There's nothing here for you!"

"Actually, two rather distressed people individually asked me to retrieve a stolen briefcase and an abducted wingull, so I would have to disagree. But-" I kept talking before he started shouting again. "Would you happen to be a pokémon trainer?"

He looked momentarily surprised by the question. "Yeah. What's it to you?"

"Well then, I think we can both work this out like reasonable people. If we battle and I win, you hand over the case and that Wingull. If I lose I walk out of here and say I couldn't find you."

I was lying through my teeth. Win or lose, this guy was going to get caught.

I saw him take the bait with an evil grin. "Heh, your loss kid. Poochyena, use growl!"

"I think you owe me that case."

The thief looked like he was about to explode from anger before throwing up his hands.

"Fine! You want the case so bad, take it! I hope you drop it on your foot! And take the stupid bird while you're at it!" He yelled as he threw the briefcase and bound bird at me.

I allowed the case to impact my stomach and carefully caught the immobilized flying type. Then I picked up the case and only nodded back before making my way out of sight.

The first thing I did then was to untie the abused bird.

"Hey, Peeko right? You're going to be fine," I soothed, palming berries and holding them out in front of it's beak.

It looked surprised by the offered food, but pecked the berry before pecking them out of my hand. I totally didn't scan it while it was distracted, either.

"Alright then," I said, pulling the last string away. "How about we get you back to your trainer?"

Imp helped guide us out without tripping over any of the startlingly plentiful whismurs. My eyes were still adjusting to the sunlight when I was bull-rushed by Peeko's owner.

"By my salty beard! Peeko, yehr alright! Thank yeh so much lad! I wasn' sure wha' to do! Thank yeh so much young man!" He seemed to adopt a more serious air. "If yehr ever in need of transport t' Dewford or Slateport, jus' pay me a visit. I live in a cottage just the other side o' the woods south o' here. Now, I think Peeko needs t' visit the pokécenter. Thank yeh again, young... Oh dear. Ahm Briney, Mr. Briney. May I know yer name?"

"I'm Wallace. It was a pleasure to meet you, but I wouldn't want to hold you up," I smiled back. "And I'm afraid I need to run as well," I gestured with the briefcase.

"O'course. Yeh know where t' find me!"

"You have the briefcase! Thank you so much!"

"It's fine, just as long as you _actually_ do something to avoid getting robbed again." I tried to shorten his apologetic spiel.

He cringed. "Ah, yes. I'll be sure to do that. But I can't just walk away after you've saved my hide twice now..."

He scratched his chin for a moment.

"Ah, I have an idea! Could I trouble you to accompany me back to the Devon Building?" He asked, visibly brightening.

"Sure, I was about to head over there anyways," I answered with a shrug.

I'd gone from curious to worried when I saw the still unnamed man approach the secretary posted outside the executive's office.

"Excuse me, Clara? Is he in right now?" He asked professionally. Guess he wasn't a _complete_ ditz. I suppose he couldn't be, or he wouldn't be trusted with anything too valuable in the first place.

"Ah, you got the case back! Yes, go right in."

I followed him into a frankly massive office. Seriously, a conservative guess said it composed the entire third floor. There was a smartly dressed man sitting behind The Desk at the far end of the room.

"Um, could I ask you to wait here for a minute?" He asked apologetically.

Not really having a choice, I nodded and leaned on the doorframe while he crossed the room towards The Desk.

It actually took a considerable amount of effort to act calm. I was standing in the office of the man who controlled a nontrivial fraction of Hoenn's economy.

Thankfully, it only took a few minutes for Sir Robbed-A-Lot to return to where I was standing.

"Mr. Stone would like to speak with you now. If you would follow me?"

I trailed behind him back across the room to The Desk. Brown Hair No Briefcase stood to the side, giving the floor to the executive.

"So, you're the fellow who saved my company a great deal of trouble twice now?" He asked in a voice that put me at ease.

I nodded.

"Well then, such initiative and selflessness should hardly go unrewarded. Mr. Sullivan has informed me that he attempted to pay you after you came to his aid in Petalburg Woods, is that correct?"

I nodded a little more carefully.

He fixed me with a look. "Is it true that you are both on an expedition and have not used _any_ pokéballs since you began?"

"Yes sir," I answered evenly.

He leaned back in his chair. "If I may ask, how?"

I pulled the scanner out of the side pocket of my bag and handed it to him. "Professor Birch, my sponsor, built me a scanner so I didn't need to capture a pokémon to record it," I explained rifling through my bag and pulled out my pokédex as well. "This is the pokédex I have it synchronized to."

I cringed internally as I recalled Mutt's tooth marks. I'd grown used to them, but he was bound to notice.

Strangely though, he seemed largely unperturbed as he flipped through my incomplete log. I noticed his eyebrows climbing higher and higher as he did.

"Well then, I have to admit I'm impressed. You came this way by Littleroot, did you not?" I nodded and he continued. "I was initially planning on giving you free access to all of our pokéball distributors, but it would seem such a gift would be useless."

He drummed his fingers on the table before leaning forward and planting his elbows on his desk. "I would still like to offer you the services of my scientists. We've a few projects that may come in handy for a trainer like yourself. All you would need to do is ask. Other than that, I can only offer you what my company already produces."

I was a little taken aback, I'd expected a pat on the head and a 'good boy' before being sent on my way. Oh well, I _did_ actually need something.

"Well... I was only planning on buying a phone chip for my pokénav-"

"Not a problem! I'll have someone waiting in the lobby. Was there anything else?"

I shook my head.

"Then that brings me to our next order of business. Might I ask where you were planning on going next for your expedition?"

The question caught me off balance.

"I haven't decided yet. I could head north towards Fallabor, but I want to do as little backtracking as possible and I still need to buy a fishing rod to do my surveying around the coastline and over Rustboro Lake. I could also try to get a boat ticket for Dewford... I'm not sure yet. Why?"

"If it's all the same to you, I was going to have these schematics delivered to Slateport and I need someone to run a letter personally to someone currently visiting Dewford. And as competent as my staff generally is, they seem to have developed a troubling habit of getting robbed. Could I possibly trouble you for the deliveries if you decide to head down that way?"

Ah, so that was what he was after.

 _It's not like you don't have room in your pack, and Mr. Briney can get you to both of those places. And you're not above looking for friends in high places, might as well._

"Sure. Makes things more straightforward on my behalf. Should I be hurrying to get these delivered?"

"Not particularly. Steven - my son - is going to be staying in Dewford for another month, give or take. As for the schematics, sooner would be better but they won't really be needing them for another few months at least. They'd just be difficult to replace is all. Oh, and please pardon my digression, but were you planning on taking the gym challenges?"

 _Damn._ It was a question I'd been avoiding asking myself. I was intelligent with my team and I had avoided having anyone faint yet, there was a good amount of prestige involved. From what I knew, most gym leaders went out of their way to collect rare pokémon as well, so a surreptitious scan could save me a good deal of trouble.

On the other hand, I wasn't trying to battle my way to the Elite Four, and beating a gym leader was a mark your trainer card that could provoke some of the more competitive trainers into a fight they might otherwise ignore.

I sucked air in between my teeth, thinking about what to say. Mr. Stone beat me to a response.

"I don't intend to pressure you either way; I've never been much of a trainer myself. That said, there is a fairly substantial financial reward for successfully beating any of the leaders."

I raised my head, surprised. "I didn't know that."

He nodded. "It's not a very publicised fact. The gyms don't want people to become trainers for the money, but they _do_ want people to stay trainers and that means paying them somehow. It's a rather delicate balance. Still, you're already a trainer so I figured there was little harm in telling you."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Thanks. I'll keep it in mind."

I spent the rest of the day looking for a fishing supplies shop while juggling the gym challenge in the back of my mind. I needed to eat, and as long as I wasn't making money I was pulling on Mom and Dad. There was also going to be countless other things I would need to pay for: hotel rooms in cities, gear that breaks or wears out, laundry services, food for myself and my posse. The list just keeps going.

But I really didn't want to _volunteer_ my team for what would doubtlessly be a very difficult and painful battle.

I was able to put the decision off when I finally located a fishing store. It then immediately came back to haunt me when I saw the prices of even the cheapest rods.

 _300 poké for a collapsible stick with string._ I grumbled internally as I purchased the cheapest travel rod they had. I was already a bit short on money.

I looked through my wallet. 254 poké left.

I sighed, Imp warbled with concern.

"I hate having to ask this, but you guys want to help me with something?"

I generally felt like a bad person as I counted out and handed the allotted 100 poké entrance fee to the receptionist at the Rustboro Gym.

"Alright, it'll just be a minute before they're set up. Take a seat and I'll let you know," she said with almost grating cheeriness.

I sat down on one of the benches and went over what I knew. This was a rock-type gym, I didn't have much of a type advantage or disadvantage here. Mutt had figured out how to use his teeth in battle without risking a chipped or broken tooth, and Imp could get around the inherent defence most Rock types boasted.

That wouldn't do much about durability though, I was going to have to be careful. I only had one potion left, too.

"The challenge is ready. Before you head in though I need to tell you the rules. No one is allowed to use items in the gym during the challenge."

 _Damn._

"There are three trainers who will all try to keep you from getting to Roxanne if they spot you. The only trainer you need to beat to complete the challenge is Roxanne herself. You may withdraw at any time, but your entrance fee will be considered forfeit. Just tell one of the trainers if you would like to bow out. That's all, good luck."

The doors opened, I stood and walked through.

I'd only ever seen the inside of my dad's Gym, so when I walked into a literal maze, I was lost in more ways than one. On the upside, the building was small enough it wasn't too hard to find the patterns and follow them.

I listened closely at every corner, which got me around two of the trainers. Surprisingly young kids who already had their Geodudes out and were making enough noise for me to backtrack and find another way around.

The third trainer spotted me when I peered around a quiet corner.

"Ah ha! I see you there! Come on out and face me!" The man with hiking gear challenged.

I grimaced to myself and rounded the corner.

"Oh my! You might just be able to best Roxanne with a duo like that. Good luck, young trainer!"

I tipped my cap and gestured for Mutt to follow. He'd taken a fairly solid hit during that last fight, but he was still moving fine so I decided to keep him on point.

With the hallway cleared of threats, I crossed it in the direction I was pretty sure lead towards the back of the gym. I saw I was right when I peered around the corner. The room was wide enough to take up most of the back end of the gym. A girl that looked a few years older than me sat on a chair in the middle, chatting with one of her Geodudes.

Not wanting to get snuck up on by one of the younger trainers, I strode in. She looked up at me and grinned.

"So you're taking the challenge? Hope you don't expect me to make this easy for you."

"I know better than that," I made myself smile back. No point in making this too serious.

"Good, now let's get this started! Malachite, defensive curl!"

Two geodudes later and Mutt was still standing, if only just. Roxanne was looking at me with well masked surprise, she hadn't expected me to do this well.

"You asked for it, Easter go!" She tossed her last pokéball to the ground.

It burst open to reveal a wholly strange looking pokémon, like someone had taken a stereotypical grandpa head made of rock and given it stubby little limbs. But feeling how the rock floor thudded under it made me immediately leery.

"Mutt, that's enough. Imp, go!"

Mutt padded tiredly back to my side and Imp hopped to the floor. I may have also palmed my scanner and point it at the weird pokémon during the change out.

"Confusion!"

"Rock Tomb!"

The sensory scrambling made it teeter back, but the thrown stones landed true, impacting Imp as they boxed her in.

"Confusion again!"

"Tackle!"

Imp pried herself out of the pile enough to fire off another burst just as the rocky head plowed into her. I sucked air between my teeth.

"Imp get out of there!" She was going to get pulverized if she couldn't-

*Bamf*

"What?" We both asked.

Imp just vanished, like she'd been pulled through an invisible straw.

"Imp?" I tried and failed to hide my rising worry.

Something warbled in the rafters above me. I looked up. She was peering down at me and I could swear she was as surprised as the rest of us. I let out a breath.

Who was I to ignore an opportunity?

"Imp, use confusion!"

"Wha- _arrgh_. Easter! Rock Tomb!"

The rock type weathered the assault and hurled several more rocks. Most of them missed, one didn't.

Imp tumbled back down to the floor. Mutt growled as I winced.

"Teleport!"

"Block!"

The space around Imp started twisting almost invisibly until the Rock type did a strange clap-stomp thing that made Imp suddenly stagger.

 _It can block teleports?_ Mutt was still growling and had forced himself back to his feet.

No choice then. "Imp, Confusion!"

"Tackle!"

The psychic effect ended abruptly as the rock impacted her one more time. Imp just lay on the floor where she stopped tumbling.

I winced and looked at Mutt, he was still visibly battered, but Imp was out of the fight now. The nosepass certainly didn't look in too good of shape either.

This was going to be close.

"Mutt, you're up! Bite!"

"Defensive curl!"

Mutt ran forward and tried to sink his teeth into the animate rock, but couldn't get a good angle with it guarding as it was.

"Bite again!" Tackle would do no good here.

"Tackle!"

Mutt was all but sent flying as the Nosepass' shoulder connected squarely with his ribs. He didn't get up.

"Mutt!" The fight was over, so I ran over to his side. "Hey, are you awake? Look at me boy-"

 _Is he growling?_ I stopped and listened.

Yes his chest was rumbling. "Mutt, it's alright. You've done enough, let's go get you healed up-"

 _Okay, growling makes sense._ Glowing _does not._

And glowing he was, brighter and brighter every second. I backed up a step, with a very distinct idea of what was happening.

He kept getting brighter and brighter until I could only just make out his form through the light. Then he started shifting, growing. After several seconds, his much larger form finally stopped expanding and the light began to fade.

And I got my first clear look at his evolution.

His color scheme from the legs up looked like it had reversed, black over his head and back and grey over his face and stomach. He also had tripled in size and had a much more canine appearance, his eyes were a much harder red.

And most importantly, he didn't look hurt.

I looked back to Roxanne. She grimaced and looked back to her own pokémon.

The fight was still on then. I ran back to my spot.

"Mutt, bite!"

The nosepass lay on the floor, fainted.

I let out a breath before immediately running to where Imp still lay.

"We have a healing station in the back, follow me," Roxanne said as she recalled her own pokémon.

I picked up Imp and gratefully followed. Fishing a pokéball out of my bag while I did so. I cringed a little, but I pressed the button on the front and pulled Imp into the storage device.

I wasn't going to make her recover from this on her own, my stupid and vague philosophy could go wait in the corner while I made sure she didn't stay hurt.

Thankfully, the process only took a couple of seconds, remarkably fast really. Once we'd both done the healing we needed to and I let Imp back out, Roxanne turned to face me.

"Have to admit, didn't think you'd pull an evolution in the middle of a fight," she said with a smile.

"To be perfectly honest, neither did I," I chuckled and gave Mutt an ear rub. He groaned and leaned into it.

Some things hadn't changed, I was glad to see.

"Well, some of your methods were more than a little unorthodox, but you obeyed all the rules." She fished a small case out of her pocket and handed it to me.

"I hereby award you with the Rustboro City Gym Badge. Carry it with pride. Your winnings are in there as well."

I peered into the case. The first layer held a single brown pin in the shape of the gym's logo. I tilted the second layer open and felt my eyes widen involuntarily.

"There should be 15,000 poké in there. Let me know if I miscounted," she grinned as I felt my eyebrows vanish under my hat.

"That..." I closed the case and looked at her, "is more money than I expected."

"Well, I dare say you've earned it. And this is a bit of a non-sequitur, but do you have a Nav-Caller chip?"

I blinked. "Yes. Just got it yesterday, actually."

"Call it a hunch, but I feel like you're going to be doing some traveling and I like to keep in touch with anyone who beats me. Here's my number."

About forty minutes after entering, I walked out of the gym with a badge in my case and a weight in my wallet. As happy as I was though, Roxanne's request to keep in touch had reminded me that I'd promised the same for Mom.

I knew we had a house phone too, but being an absent minded _dunce_ ensured that I had utterly forgotten the number.

 _It'd be so much nicer to just head home and talk with her, but that'd take another week of walking that I really shouldn't-_

 _..._

 _Why am I stupid?_

"Hey, Imp? Any chance you can do that teleport thing again?"

She cocked her head at me.

"'Imp, get out of there!' That thing?"

She looked like she got it, maybe. She just kept staring at me though.

"Uh, home maybe?"

She furrowed her brow with a confused warble. I sighed.

"Okay, maybe I can just- eh?" I held still as Imp started climbing down my back before stopping with her arms on my shoulders.

Then she stuck her heartpiece against my neck.

' _Where?'_

It wasn't a word, not even a question really, just a thought with a missing space.

I focused once I got over my surprise, bringing the memories and feelings I associated to the fore of my mind. _Home._

Something gripped me and I had just enough time to loop an arm around Mutt's neck-

A _movement_ that didn't feel like movement at all. All vertigo, no motion.

I looked up and saw the front door of the house I'd moved into less than a month ago.

 _... Huh. Neat._

So without further ado, I knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Mom called absently.

"The gingerbread man!" I called back with a grin.

There was a pause before I heard footsteps rush to the door. It flew open and Mom just looked at me with wide eyes before gathering me in a hug.

"Oh my goodness, it's actually you! I thought I was going out of my mind for a moment. What happened? Why are you here? When did you get back?"

"Easy, Mom. Imp figured out how to teleport, so she did me the favor of getting me home. I am here for the above reason. And about twelve seconds ago."

She smiled at me. "Well then, now you're all out of excuses to ever miss checking in with me. As long as it's not too taxing on Imp. And speaking of, I see you've been doing some training," she said with an eye on Mutt.

"Oh, yeah. Long story short, someone convinced me to give the Rustboro gym a try and Mutt decided he'd had enough of losing. Also, I think I can pay for my gear now," I said in what was becoming my default suspiciously innocent voice.

There was another of _those_ moments where I smiled and tried to express my innocence while my mother didn't buy it a bit.

"I'm glad to see you haven't changed too much just yet," she said quietly, punctuating her words with another hug.

"Like I said, you're going to have to try harder than that to get rid of me. But while I'm back I should probably go visit the professor too. Make sure my scanner is working like it's supposed to."

"Of course. How long will you be staying?"

"I can't hang around for too long, but I should be able to stay the night. Sleeping in a proper bed would be nice, too," I admitted.

"Then how about I go make sure we'll have enough for dinner while you go check in with the professor?"

"The gingerbread man!"

There was another confused silence from the other side of the door before someone moved to open it. The Professor looked down at me with a surprised expression.

"Wallace! I wasn't expecting you, did something happen?"

"Imp learned how to teleport."

"... Ah. Well, that explains that.. Should make things a fair deal easier for us in the long run too. I suppose you're here to check your progress then?"

I nodded and we stepped into the lab. Birch got the computer running while I fished out my pokédex and scanner. I wandered around the lab and kept my ears open for May while the professor went through my findings. She was nowhere to be seen though, that might be for the best.

"Made your way to Rustboro already I see. Not much for between here and Petalburg, but that's fine. Don't have a fishing rod yet?"

"Only got one yesterday. I was planning on revisiting Rustboro Lake before heading back down towards the coast. There's also a Mr. Briney who owes me a favor and offered me a ride to Dewford and Slateport if I needed it, so I'm probably going to be heading that way instead of towards Fallabor."

"What about Route 116? I'm not seeing any data on it except for a Whismur."

"Oh, right! The trails between Rustboro and Rusturf Tunnel... I'd forgotten to be honest. I could go back and do them now, but if I go by way of Slateport I can just loop back through once the tunnel is done."

"Fair enough, and going by the southern route gives you a little more time to train your team before you start getting into the more dangerous routes. And if you keep doing as thorough of a job as you already have been then you shouldn't need to do much backtracking. I'll let you know once May and I - finish chewing through what you've got."

The pause was subtle, but even I caught it. Not knowing what to say though, I could only let it pass without comment.

"Looks like the scanner's been working right too. Anything you'd change about it?" He asked, pushing the conversation back to friendlier ground.

"Having it be longer range or easier to use during a battle would be nice, but it's been working great as is."

"Battle?"

 _Oops._

"I, ah... might or might not have been attempting to scan pokémon that I have not seen before. Perhaps even if said pokémon is being used in a trainer battle," I muttered without making eye contact. "Hypothetically, of course."

Birch was quiet for a moment.

"Being seen scanning someone else's pokémon might or might not be taken as an offence," he finally said without looking at me. "Hypothetically, of course."

 _You have permission to continue, don't get caught. Got it._

"I'll do what I can for your scanner, but overnight isn't going to give me much time," he continued.

"I think the fishing rod I got uses pokéballs, so I can go back to Rustboro Lake for another few days if that'll help. I'm probably not going to be able to use it much for most water types anyways."

"Alright, that'll give me time to order some proper parts as well- is this Roxanne's Nosepass?"

"Maybe?"

Once we got the details sorted out I left the lab and decided to pay Mrs. Fructus a visit.

"The gingerbread man!"

"I know that's you, Wallace! I saw you heading to the lab earlier. Come on in!"

 _Foiled! Maybe next time._ I thought, opening the door.

Mrs. Fructus was in her chair with Feli on her lap.

"Glad you decided to visit. Things have been getting boring around here again."

"Can't let that happen," I grinned. "Would having some berries from the fields near Rustboro help with that?"

"Are you trying to bribe pokéblocks from me by offering me berry strains I can't buy around here? Because if you are, it's working. Come on, let's have a look."

I handed the fresher berries I'd found to her and waited while she looked one of the Orans over before popping it into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.

"This'll do... Yes, this'll do just fine. So what are you running low on?"

After a comforting hour and a half of shop-talk and making more pokéblocks I made my leave and started heading home.

I took a Gym Challenge, fought a Gym Leader, had one of my pokémon faint, had one of my pokémon evolve, beat a Gym Leader, got my first Badge, made as much money as I've ever had in my entire life, teleported home, and dumped weeks of data on my sponsor. All in the same day.

Time for bed, seven o'clock or not.

I contemplated knocking on May's door, but I had no idea of what I should say, _could_ say. I kept walking.

I didn't see May again the next morning before I left. I got the feeling she might have been avoiding me.

"Come on Imp, let's head back to Rustboro."

(May)

I spotted him the moment he appeared, idly glancing out my bedroom window. He'd just popped out of the air, not even looking altogether that surprised.

Then I saw his team.

There was a very healthy looking mightyena at his heels and the poochyena that never left his side was nowhere to be seen. I tried and failed to produce an alternative theory. 'Mutt' had evolved.

 _Pokémon don't evolve without a reason. He's been training._

The anger had abated over time, but the heat of it started crawling back. I'd been a bit offended when he tried doing things completely differently than how I'd shown him. Then I'd progressively gotten angrier when I'd had to accept how much better it was working.

Now he'd been doing the training my way, and it looked like he was doing _that_ better too. Working with the professor had left me almost no time at all to work on my own team.

I watched as he talked with Connie before gesturing towards the lab. I felt another stab of irritation as he waved and started walking towards it. If his track record hadn't inexplicably plummeted then we were going to have most of Petalburg Woods to catalogue.

The thought of spending the next two weeks cooped up in the lab, working on _his_ data... I turned back and glared at my computer. I couldn't even challenge him to a fight, if his stupid guard dog was already strong enough to evolve then I wouldn't last a second.

An idea hit me. The longer I bounced it around, the better it started sounding.

After going through the all pros and cons I could think of, I made up my mind and prepared my appeal.

"Professor, I'd like to go on an Expedition."

A/N: I was going to write more, but this feels as good a place to stop as any. A little shorter than I'd intended, but the next chapter should cover quite a bit, so there's that to look forward to.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry about this chapter being late, travelling and stuff.

Chapter 4: Seas and Swarms

Imp teleported us back to the Pretty Petal Flower Shop. It was familiar and right next to Rustboro Lake.

I was also tempted to use my post-teleport greeting, but...

Bah, why not?

"The gingerbread man!"

I could all but feel the confusion from the other side of the door. Imp certainly did, if her smirk was anything to go by. Theo eventually opened the door and grinned when she recognized me.

"You don't need to knock you know, the store's open," she said, ushering me inside.

"Never hurts to be polite," I smiled innocently back as I entered.

"So what brings you back this way so soon? Headed down to Dewford?" She asked.

"Birch wants to hold on to my scanner for a few days and I still need to work on Rustboro Lake for a while, so I'm just going to be fishing for a couple of days. Figured I might as well drop by. Oh, I also have a Nav-Caller now."

We chatted for a while, exchanging numbers, talking about nothing in particular while I gave Fez a scratch on the neck. Eventually our conversation dropped the fact that I had never actually gone fishing before and had basically no idea how to start.

"Well, Mr. Godfrey is down by the lake almost every other day and has been since we had the shop built. If there's anyone who knows their way around a fishing rod, it'd be him," Theo tapped a finger on her chin. "Just tell him I sent you and he should open right up. His wife loves flowers, so I've gotten him out of a spot of trouble before."

"Thanks again. I really need to work harder on the whole 'planning ahead' thing. Didn't mean for you to go cashing in debts to help me."

After getting all but shouted down I promised I'd go meet with Mr. Godfrey.

"Eh? Who's this?" An elderly man in a red fishing outfit asked as I approached.

"My name's Brendan. The lady at the flower shop said you were the guy to ask about fishing," I explained, hopping over a stump onto the shoreline where he sat.

I could almost see his his ego expand as he sat straighter.

"Well, dare I say they were quite correct. What can this old pro teach you?"

It went well for about ten minutes as he laid the basics out. Then he actually looked at what I had brought.

"Where's your surface ball, son?" He asked, looking over the gear I'd splayed out.

I gave him a quizzical look, not the first in our conversation.

"You were supposed to get one with your pole. It's a kind of pokéball that only captures a pokémon for a few seconds, just long enough to drag it up to the surface. Doesn't register it or anything. There's not much you can do without one I'm afraid."

I pursed my lips.

"Would they sell individual ones or am I going to have to buy a new set entirely?"

"I can't imagine they wouldn't at least sell replacements, but that seems like a rather trivial thing to spend the next four hours fixing. Rustboro's still a bit away from here," he said as I stood up anyways.

I smiled at him conspiratorially.

"If I were to go back anyways, would there be anything else I should buy?"

"Er, I snapped my reel of fishing line a few days ago. Been using the spare since. That doesn't make the shop any closer though."

"It doesn't have to. Give me five minutes. Imp, if you'd be so kind?"

She swung down from my shoulders and poked my neck with her heartpiece, asking the same strange, empty question she always did as I knelt and looped an arm around Mutt. I provided the clearest memory I had of the fishing shop where I'd bought my pole.

And there we were. Her teleports were getting much smoother. I found the surface ball he'd been talking about as well as a new spool of fishing line. I paid for them both, then had Imp teleport us back to the clearing.

I tossed the spool of line to Mr. Godfrey, never dropping my innocent smile. After sitting down and fastening the surface ball to my fishing rod, I just sat there and kept smiling at him.

"Well... That's one way to do it I suppose. Now, after you cast the rod..."

The process of actually catching anything was made somewhat more difficult by my provisional pacifism. Once you pulled a pokémon up to the surface, it was generally more prone to attacking or fleeing than eating an offered pokéblock.

That's not to say I didn't try anyways, it just took much longer than it might've otherwise. I had also relocated after my fifth attempt, having gotten sufficiently tired of Mr. Godfrey's claims that I was doing it wrong.

I was starting to regret trying this without the scanner. I hadn't really known much about fishing before getting a crash course earlier today, but it turned out that I couldn't sync my pokédex with the surface ball. I guess it relied on the registration process.

What was especially grating was that when I did actually manage to get a pokémon to stay without trying to attack me, it wasn't from catching it. A lone magikarp splashed up in the shallows in front of me and stared at me for a long moment. Then it went about gobbling up the waterlogged pokéblocks I'd been throwing that hadn't already been snapped up.

Feeling just about done with this whole fishing thing, I just sat on the shoreline and watched the fish go about eating several hours of wasted effort. Once it was convinced it had located all of the larger pieces of bait, I swam back up to the shoreline and stared at me, doing that fish breathing thing where it flared out its gills.

"Well, you seem cooperative enough at least. Want a pokéblock?" I held out the cube. I remembered hearing somewhere that even deep sea pokémon could use their gills to breath on land.

The pokémon stared at me for a second with what _might_ have been comprehension. Fish weren't all that expressive.

After a long moment it splashed around in the water before leaping onto the shore and flopping towards me. I was a little surprised, but continued holding out the food. Once it got within arm's reach of me, it stopped and stared at me.

I held the food right in front of its mouth. The magikarp plucked it from my fingers and chowed down.

"Well, I suppose today wasn't a _complete_ loss," I muttered, leaning back and-

The pokémon flopped off of the ground and into my lap with surprising force.

"Oof! Jeez, did you need something?" I asked the fish sitting in my lap.

It just stared up at me.

"Alright then, it looks like it's getting late so I should be getting back to Rustboro or the flower shop," I stood and carried the water type back over to the lake, gently lowering it in.

I made it about five steps away before I heard splashing. When I turned around I saw the Magikarp jumping out of the water and flopping after me.

"I'm not giving you any more pokéblocks, okay? Frankly I've wasted enough today."

*Flop* *Flop* *Flop*

It stared up at me.

"What, you want to come with?"

It flopped in place. I took that as a yes.

"That might not really work out, I'm on the road a lot and you don't seem like you'd travel that well-"

 _Oh darn! If only there were some established way to carry large and/or low mobility pokémon without much trouble!_

I pinched my mouth shut. Feeling just a little foolish.

 _That would technically entail catching it though..._

 _Would you quit complaining about actually_ catching _pokémon? You're trying to avoid violence not productivity. Just toss a pokéball and see if that's what it wants._

I conceded to myself and drew one of the basic pokéballs I'd bought way back when I'd started working for Birch.

"You sure you want to come with little guy?" I asked making sure the device was fully visible.

It flopped in place, and I could swear I felt a little bit of impatience.

"Alright then," I expanded the sphere and tossed it.

The light leapt out and grabbed the fish before abruptly withdrawing. The ball wobbled once before going still.

*Ting*

Imp had been watching from the treeline where Mutt was napping and wandered over.

"Well, it looks like we have a new member to the team," I muttered, kneeling down and absently placing Imp on her usual perch. Then I looked back at the device in my hand.

"Suppose you're gonna need a name..." I mumbled to myself.

I glanced at the two senior members.

 _Mutt, Imp, and..._

"Minnow."

After having spent an entire day accomplishing little more than catching a single magikarp, I decided to see if I could spend the next day a little more wisely.

I bounced a few ideas around until I remembered that Mr. Stone had offered 'the full services' of Devon Corporation. So I decided to spend today figuring out what that entailed.

I made it about eight feet through the doors before I got stuck.

 _Hi, I'm a random kid who just walked in and I would like to see what technology your company is working on. What's that? You can't do that? Go ahead and ask your CEO, we're friends after I saved one of your employees twice._

"Oh, Mr. Wallace, is there something we can do for you?"

It took me a solid four seconds to realize the receptionist was talking to me.

"Oh, just Wallace, please. The 'Mr.' sounds weird," I said sheepishly as I approached. "I was actually just wondering if there were tours or something like that."

"I see. I take it this is about Mr. Stone's offer?"

I nodded and sent a quiet prayer of thanks to whatever power was making this conversation go so smoothly.

"Well, we don't offer tours for most of our labs due to confidentiality, but Mr. Stone told us not to worry about that for you. I'll have someone come down to give you a look around, it should just be a minute."

I thanked her and took a seat in the reception area, glancing around and noting the only other people there were an elderly couple absorbed in petting the pikachu tucked between their chairs.

 _Really wish I had my scanner._

Once I sat down I let Imp down and kept an eye on her and Mutt while they roamed around the waiting room sniffing and staring at things. A few minutes later after they'd gotten bored and wandered back, the receptionist called my name and pointed me to someone entering the room.

"Oh, hello Wallace!" Mr. Sullivan waved in greeting. "I'm the one who's going to be showing you around, if you'll follow me."

To be honest, I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting. Sterile walls, lab coats, gas masks maybe.

What I got was a large room filled with engineers at computers and a couple workbenches tucked against the far wall.

Apparently, Mr. Stone was of the philosophy that if you allowed intelligent people to work freely, problems would resolve themselves.

And given what I was seeing here, he was at least half right.

Mr. Sullivan led me to one of the workbenches where one of the scientists was working on... something.

"Hey Greg, you have a minute?" Mr. Sullivan asked as we approached.

"Hmm? What is it?" He asked, not turning from the device.

"I'm showing the trainer who saved my butt around and wanted to see how your project was going."

"Your timing's good. Give me another thirty seconds and I can show you."

Mr. Sullivan turned to me. "Are you okay with waiting?"

I shrugged. "Thirty seconds is hardly a wait. What's the project?"

"A defossilizer," Greg answered bluntly.

I gave a quizzical look to Mr. Sullivan.

"I'm a bit unclear on the details myself, but as I understand it's designed to scan the genome and physiology of the creature leftover in the fossil and uses a mechanism similar to the healing trays at the pokécenter to reconstruct a full specimen," he explained.

"A bit of an oversimplification, but not altogether incorrect. Now, you may want to stand back a little," he said, stepping away from the device that looked like a cross between a drill press and a growing vat.

He tapped a few buttons on a nearby screen and what looked like a tuft of dead grass was deposited in the glass cylinder in the middle. The machine whirred for a few seconds before a tendril of the same hard-light pokéballs used crept from the antennae thing inside the glass. It moved remarkably slowly as it covered the dead plant matter before gradually receding.

There were several shoots of living grass laying in the bottom of the container, roots and all.

Greg gave a loud whoop of success and Mr. Sullivan clapped him on the back. I felt my eyebrows raise.

Yes, I had made a good choice in coming to see what these labs were working on.

After congratulations and promising to bring any fossils I found straight here, Mr. Sullivan walked me around the other terminals and benches. No one else seemed to be having quite as much success as Greg, but there was one scientist working on a 'pokémon phonetic modulator and interpreter'. Once I was able to pry the layman's version out of him, he explained that he was trying to let humans and pokémon to speak with each other.

Given what I was trying to do and Imp's already remarkable ability to understand speech, I made a note to myself to keep tabs on this particular project.

The only other project that was showing any real progress was a fairly mundane thing.

"I'm sorry, most of that went over my head," I apologized. Again.

"Sorry, got a little carried away. I call this the experience sharer. Pokémon can actually learn a surprising amount by just watching a fight happen even if they don't participate. My thought was that if I could add what is basically a sensor array to a pokéball then the pokémon inside would be able to learn without getting in the way of a battle," he explained, using much smaller words.

"So this would basically negate the training deficit pokémon that need to stay in their balls face?"

"Yes, exactly. The only real problem though is that I don't train pokémon and it would take me too long to start now so I'm still looking for someone to field test it."

...

Two minutes later I walked away, the proud - if temporary - owner of an experience sharer. I had the device currently affixed to Minnow's ball.

After I finished following Mr. Sullivan around the work room, he led me back to the reception area.

I was a bit surprised when I glanced at my pokénav.

"It's already 4:30?"

"It's interesting stuff, isn't it? Anyway, was there anything else I can do for you?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

I shook my head. "Not sure what I was looking for when I wandered in this morning, but I'm fairly certain I got it. Sorry for dragging you away from your work for so long."

He waved a hand at me dismissively. "Don't be, I would've just been interned into doing something else. It's nice getting to see what the eggheads are working on. Are you planning on dropping by again any time soon?"

"After I get the letter to Stephen and the schematics to Slateport I'll swing by to let Mr. Stone know. I also want to see how some of those projects end up developing, especially the fossil and translator ones."

"That makes sense. Though it looks like you don't need that Nav-caller as much now that your ralts has gotten the hang of teleporting," he quirked a smile at Imp who I could _feel_ preening.

"Don't go saying that too loud or it might go to her head. Oh, wait." I reached up and fondly patted the empath despite my words. "Well, I should probably be heading off, thanks again for the tour!"

I knew Professor Birch had my number and he'd promised to call when he finished working on the scanner. That he hadn't called yesterday evening told me it was going to be another day at least, so I needed to kill more time.

Time to pay Mr. Briney a visit.

I knocked three times on the cottage door and waited for an answer.

"Who's it?" An old man's voice called from inside.

"Wallace, the guy from Rusturf Tunnel," I responded, foregoing my usual greeting.

There was the sound of shuffling feet and flapping wings before the door creaked open and revealed the captain with Peeko on his shoulder.

"Ah, Wallace! I was wonderin' if yeh were going t' drop by for a vis't, I never got to pro'erly thank yeh fer saving Peeko here," he gave the bird a scratch as it made a contented trilling sound.

"Sorry, I've been fairly busy. Even with Imp here covering the travel I still seem to need to be in three places at once."

"No need t' worry. I'm 'suming this's 'bout my offer fer a ride t' Dewford?"

I nodded. "I've got most of everything I need from around Rustboro and I have a couple reasons I should be headed towards Slateport now anyways if that's alright."

"Nothing t' worry 'bout then. I don' have much o' a schedule since I retired n' I was jus' thinkin' it'd be good t' get back out on the water 'gain. Wit' the tides comin' up it'll be best to leave a bell from now so we 'ought to land at Dewford 'round three. Tha' work?"

I learned a very valuable lesson about boats today.

I get seasick.

 _Really_ seasick.

"I can see th' port, we're almost home free," Briney called from the wheel.

I just gave a thumbs up between dry heaves over the railing. Imp and Mutt were both over by Briney, likely to avoid the... decorations I'd been leaving around the small vessel.

The second the boat got within jumping distance of the docks I was off, collapsing on the docks and remembering how absolutely wonderful solid land was. Mutt followed after me and sniffed me where I lay on the ground, letting out a concerned whimper.

"'m okay bud. Just let me lay here for a few minutes," I reached up and gave him a pat before letting my arm fall over my eyes. "And by minutes I mean years."

"Sorry 'bout all tha'. These waters are usually pretty friendly t' even the more sens'tive folk. I wouldn't've expected anyone to get hit tha' hard," Briney apologized from the dock where he was fastening his boat in place.

"It's fine," I waved it off as I slowly stood back up and examined myself. "First things first, though. Would you happen to know where I can get washed up?"

"The pokécenter here 'ought to have what yeh need. Dewford's a small town, yeh should be able t' find et."

After I stopped looking and smelling like something scraped off a rock, I had Imp teleport us back home. I had a clear memory of Dewford so teleporting back shouldn't be all that difficult. I also would much rather sleep in my own bed tonight.

After a light dinner and a very restful night's sleep, I made my way to the lab.

I still didn't see May.

I knocked and made my way in. "Professor, are you there?"

"Wallace! I was just putting the finishing touches on your scanner. Come over here and I can give you the rundown."

I approached the desk he was hunched over and let Imp down. They knew the lab well enough I didn't have to keep an eye on her or Mutt.

Well, _shouldn't_ have to at least.

"I got all the software installed last night, all that's left is just seeing if everything's working like it's supposed to," he explained, glancing between the computer and the small device on the desk.

The last scanner had looked nothing as much like the camera off of a pokédex with more lenses a button on the side. This looked like a particularly techy watch with a climbing glove attached.

"...And if my debug worked like it's supposed to, everything's good. It works like your old scanner, and you can press your fingers on your palm to control it with one hand. Press this to sync. And of course you can use this to tell the time," he tapped different parts of the device before passing it to me. "Care to do the honors?"

"It would be my pleasure, sir," I quipped back, pulling out my pokédex.

A few short minutes later and everything appeared to be in order.

"Well, that was anticlimactic. Anything else I need to know before I resume my epic quest?"

"Nope. You're headed towards Dewford right? Make sure you visit Granite Cave while you're there."

Both the professor and I weren't very good people persons, so it was pretty easy to catch the forced innocence in his tone. But if he didn't want to talk about it I wouldn't force him to.

"Yeah. We arrived there yesterday afternoon so Imp should be able to teleport us back."

There was a silence where I became acutely aware of something.

"Professor, where's May? I haven't seen her for a while and I'm hoping she's cooled down enough for us to talk."

He did that shoulder twitch-cringe, like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"She's... Doing field work," he answered without looking at me.

Ok, something was up, but it looked like I wasn't going to be talking with May soon regardless.

"Maybe next time then. Thank you professor. Imp, teleport?"

Dewford looks like a much nicer town when you haven't been seasick for the last several hours.

The first thing on my agenda was delivering Mr. Stone's letter to Stephen before I got distracted. Dewford was a small town so hopefully I could just get this out of the way and get some work done.

"There was a youngish fellow with grey hair who said he was heading to the cave up the coast. Stone hunting or something. He's been here for a few weeks but he's typically not back until nightfall though," one of the fisherman at the pokécenter explained, scratching his beard.

I thanked him and made my way out of the center. I could just spend the day fishing and wait at the cave mouth, but frankly I didn't really want to. It should theoretically be easier with a new scanner, but I didn't even want to look at my fishing rod right now.

Thus, I made my way to Granite Cave. After getting through a couple fights that Mutt walked away from unscathed, I found the entrance. Two steps in and a spelunker came staggering forward.

"Lad, are you planning on heading into the cave?" He asked, looking and sounding exhausted.

"Yeah, I'm on an expedition and I need to find someone who I think is currently rock hunting here. Why?"

"Two pieces of advice. One, do not shine your light into the ceiling. It's mating season for the zubats here so they're all a bit high strung. Might even be better to forego a light altogether. Two, bring repels and at least one escape rope," he said and started shuffling towards the cave entrance.

"Will I need to worry about getting lost?" I called after his retreating form.

He didn't stopped and just waved a hand. "Nah, there's only one passage that goes anywhere. If you hit a dead end just backtrack a bit."

He wandered out of the cave, leaving me to contemplate my options. I had the items he'd recommended courtesy of one of my equipment runs, but his first recommendation made me a little nervous.

There was no such thing as one zubat.

Imp had the type advantage and both of my travelling companions could probably hold their own against a swarm fairly easily, but I would really rather avoid getting swarmed to begin with.

I juggled my options before forming a rough plan.

Mutt had superb night vision, so between him and Imp I should be able to navigate the cave if my flashlight caused too much trouble. As for the other residents of the cave, I would just have to play it by ear.

The light from the entrance rapidly faded into functional nonexistence. In the space of less than two minutes it went from clear vision to utter blackness. I wound up holding the flashlight under my shirt to darken the light further, it still felt like I was dragging a floodlight around.

A wary glance up to the darkened ceiling made me trip on an outcropping of rock. I wound up dropping my flashlight.

It took less than a second after the light spun around the cave for it to go from oppressive silence to almost deafening noise.

I frantically grabbed for the flashlight and shut it off, but flapping wings and screaming zubats already filled the air. Imp gripped the back of my head and Mutt started growling as I vainly hopped the din would subside.

The first scratch from sharp wings flitting by was immediately followed by a dozen more.

" _If you even need to defend yourself, don't hesitate."_

" _I promise."_

"Imp, confusion!"

I could strangely still track the psychic projection as it lashed out into the cave air. The screeching changed tones and the attacks abruptly stopped while the mass of flapping wings drew away.

"Draw it back in, slowly," I whispered to Imp, gripping Mutt to keep him quiet.

The effect slowly receded and the cloud of noise stayed where it was. I, Imp, and Mutt all stayed hunkered on the floor as the flapping continued.

We waited.

The sound started drawing near again. Crossing my fingers utterly failed to produce and effect.

When the sound was all but on top of us, I whispered 'confusion'. The horde was pushed back another time.

This process repeated three more times, the mass advancing slower and slower. Finally the sound started to filter away.

What couldn't have been more than a two minutes later, the cave returned to silence.

I carefully stood and tucked the flashlight in a pocket.

"Mutt, why don't you take the lead for a bit?" I placed a hand on his back and tossed a leppa berry to Imp. Confusion wasn't supposed to be a sustained effect.

We walked through the cave, utter blackness all around. Mutt guided my feet and the occasional warning from Imp kept us from running into anything else.

After a while, twenty minutes maybe? Imp warbled and patted my head.

"What is it?" I whispered.

She just warbled again, so I fished out my flashlight and turned it on. The surprising light illuminated the cave and in doing so revealed a clear ceiling.

"Ok, no zubats for now at least, thanks-"

She tugged at my hat and hopped off of my shoulders.

"Imp, what's up?" I really wasn't sure what she was doing.

She just moved around behind me for a second-

*Flap* *Flap*

Wings smacked the back of my legs and I felt a shift from my backpack.

"What the..." I trailed off as I pulled off my backpack and looked at it.

There was a zubat hanging from the bottom of my backpack. It appeared completely unconcerned about having been found.

I reflexively scanned it before continuing to stare at the unperturbed pokémon. After a moment of silence I carefully fished through my bag and offered a pokéblock. It took the food with a happy 'cree'.

"Well, I suppose it's your choice if you want to come with or not," I mumbled.

It flapped its wings at me. _'Well yeah.'_

I shrugged before shouldering the pack.

"Guess we have a new member now, how about... Sylph?"

Sylph gave an approving cry.

We made our way forward.

Between Imp, Mutt, and my flashlight we slowly made our way through the cave. The main path wound up and back and around but the hiker's advice had proven right as there was only really one path to speak of.

Then it was over.

The cave wound back up and light started filtering in through cracks in the ceiling. Finally, we came to a room with enough light for me to comfortably stand up and turn off my flashlight.

And more importantly, there was a man with grey hair and an out of place suit scanning over the rocks. He fit Mr. Stone's description to a 'T'.

"Excuse me, are you Stephen?" I asked, trying not to startle him.

He still started and jerked his head up. "Oh, yes, I am. What do you need?" I noticed his hand hovering near the pokéballs on his belt.

"Mr. Stone asked me to deliver this to you," I fished the letter out of my pack and handed it to him. "Sorry it's a bit rumpled."

"Ahh, I was wondering when he was going to send this. Thank you..."

"Wallace, and this is Mutt, Imp, Sylph, and Minnow," I introduced, gesturing to my companions.

"A pleasure to meet all of you. I would introduce my companions but they would leave us somewhat crowded in here. Oh, I think you've also earned this. I doubt tracking me down through the cave was an easy feat."

He pulled a small disc out of the case he had open on the ground and handed it to me. I spied at least two fire stones and a leaf stone inside next to others I didn't recognize.

"That TM contains Steel Wing, and I've found it to be quite handy on occasion. I'm not sure if zubats can learn it, but if you were resourceful enough to track me to the back of a cave I doubt you'll have much difficulty finding a use for it. Was that everything?"

"Yeah, unless there was anything you want me to tell Mr. Stone when I check back in?"

"No, I think I'll go see him myself depending on what he's sent me. Thanks again, and... actually, I was about done here anyways. Mind if I follow you out?"

I was a little surprised, but nothing smelled nefarious so I just shrugged.

"Fine with me."

We chatted quietly as we wound back through the darkness, Stephen following a few paces behind me, apparently happy to just let me take the lead. Neither of us seemed willing to talk about ourselves though so the conversation was a bit bland. All I was able to learn was that he had a pokémon called a 'Metang' that I'd never heard of before, unfortunately I was unable to think of a reason to ask him to show me.

We'd made it most of the way back uneventfully when a zubat suddenly darted by, I jerked back and brought my light over the ceiling once more.

"Dang it, Imp!" I shouted over the sudden din.

She thankfully already seemed to know what to do, sending inaudible noise shimmering through the chamber. The noise fluttered away while I snuffed my light.

I went from irked to worried when I heard the nearby rocks shifting. With no real choice I flicked my light back on.

Two makuhitas had been roused by the sudden noise and approached, the swarm seemed to register the opportunity as the zubats suddenly drew back in.

"Mutt, bite! Imp, confusion!" I directed my companions.

Imp threw another pulse of energy into the mass of screaming pokémon and Mutt dashed forward, teeth bared. My plan immediately fractured as a rock Mutt passed reached out and grabbed one of his legs, making him plow into the ground. The geodude uncurled as the fighting types fell upon Mutt.

"Sylph, supersonic! Imp- No, Mutt-"

I froze. Mutt was vainly trying to right himself as the makuhitas threw themselves at him, Sylph thankfully flew to his aid and screeched at the ground bound aggressors, but it wasn't enough.

Imp whipped her head over to glance at Mutt and me, the distraction earned her a collective scream from the swarm that left her staggering.

"Everyone back to me!" I shouted, throwing a plan together as I yanked my bag off and began digging for a repel.

Imp flared a confusion once more before staggering towards me, Sylph darted after her. Mutt...

"Dammit, get off of him!" I yelled pointlessly as the wrestlers kept him off balance.

Sylph gave a panicked cry and Imp tried to drive off the two aggressors while I sprayed the repel towards the swarm. Unfortunately Imp was still too shaken and hit Mutt as well.

"Imp, stop! Sylph, wing attack!"

Sylph gave a confused cry as Mutt made one last leap for freedom. That same damn geodude grabbed his ankle again and dragged him back to the recovering makuhitas.

 _Dammit! Supersonic's too unreliable, but Sylph doesn't know wing attack either and leech life won't do enough. Imp can't help until she recovers or she'll hit Mutt again, but we can't wait or-_

Mutt gave a pained yelp as a round black fist collided solidly with his shoulder, the cavern was also getting strangely bright.

 _Oh for pete's sake! What now-_

Glowing.

Imp was glowing and producing a sound that wasn't unlike ringing glass. Everyone could only watch as they stopped while she grew louder and brighter. Finally it came to a crescendo as Imp _screamed._

The psychic attack that followed the shearing noise hit hard enough to send the makuhitas sprawling and the geodude scurrying away. She lashed another tendril of thought out towards the mass of zubats that was hovering behind the fading cloud of repel.

I heard small bodies impact the rock.

"Imp, that's enough!" I ordered, running towards where Mutt was sitting.

He gave a single, tired wag as I approached, sitting sideways on one of his legs and panting.

"Hey bud, hold still," I palmed an oran berry and rummaged for my remaining potion while he ate the offered fruit. Finally, once I made sure the medicine was working, I took stock of the situation.

The biggest change was Imp. She'd doubled in height and her heartpieces had shifted to symmetrical sides of her head. She also looked like she was wearing a tutu.

There were other changes, but my mind was somewhat stuck on the fact that apparently a tutu provided some sort of advantage.

Mutt was still battered despite the repairing effects of the potion and Sylph was doing a figure eight around both of them, letting out concerned cries.

"Hey guys, come here," I sat down on the cave floor and held my arms out.

Mutt got up and walked forward, still slightly favoring his shoulder before lying down against my leg with a tired huff. Imp carefully put one leg forward, slowly stepping towards where I sat, getting a feel for her new form. Sylph flopped down on top of my head

"Minnow, you want to join us?"

The lone ball on my belt gave a wobble. I took off the experience sharer and opened it, watching the light coalesce into a magikarp that immediately flopped into my lap.

I caught the fish and lowered him down. I gave everyone a pokéblock and we all sat there for a while.

I felt like I was forgetting something.

*Cough*

Or someone.

I jerked a little before looking back at Stephen.

"Sorry, I just thought they'd earned a break after that," I explained sheepishly.

"Oh I agree. I was about ready to step in when Imp convinced me that was unnecessary. That was quite impressive though," he fixed me with a look and sat down across from me.

I grimaced. "I can think of at least three things I could have done better, the first of which was to not panic and freeze up in the middle of a fight," I grumbled to myself.

"Yes, you froze, but you kept thinking until you came up with another plan anyways. Why don't I take point from here?"

"Sure," I nodded, returning Minnow to his ball.

Stephen pulled one of the balls from his belt and opened it, releasing...

I really didn't know how to describe it, it wasn't particularly _like_ anything else I knew of. There was a main body in the rough shape of a disc with a face on one edge, there were also two hand/forearm like appendages floating near but detached from the main body. The whole thing was dark, metallic blue and had a texture somewhere between metal and crystal.

I must have scanned Stephen's back half a dozen times, but I wanted to make absolutely sure I got the weird floaty thing.

We wound up making it the rest of the way our of the cave without any more disturbances. For whatever reason, the residents of the cave seemed especially unwilling to tangle with the silent floating crystal.

We made it out just after noon and said our farewells.

"Well, I told myself I'd leave Granite Cave after I found an everstone. I've found three so I think it's safe to say I don't have an excuse to stay here any longer. Take care Wallace! I hope we cross paths again some day!" He returned the crystal thing to its pokéball and pulled another one off of his belt.

I took a startled step back as an armored bird larger than I was materialized between us. Again, there might have been a few scans of Stephen's leg, but I didn't want to pass this chance up.

"Take care," I said simply as he mounted the metal avian.

He gave me a mock salute before nudging his mount and flying away.

I tried and failed to pretend I wasn't envious. I immediately felt a little bad and was silently grateful Sylph wasn't an empath.

Speaking of empaths, I turned to Imp.

"You chose a hell of a time to evolve, Mutt and I thank you all the same."

She'd barely had that body for twenty minutes and she already knew how to preen.

"Anyways, I think we've all had enough of that cave for today, let's go get some food."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Riggin' raggin' fraggin', of course once this story actually starts getting somewhere and I have buckets of free time, I start losing interest. Ehr, whatever. If you feel strongly enough that you want me to continue, let me know. Otherwise I might occupy myself doing something equally unproductive.

Chapter 5: Of Things to do with Water

I had only arrived in Dewford two days ago, but one thing was already very clear to me.

I didn't like Granite Cave and Granite Cave didn't like me. That said there were a _few_ good things about it. First, it was small. Second, the ecosystem was simple so I might be able to get my work done in less than three days. Third...

It was starting to look like we were going to have yet another addition to the team from this particular dark pit.

The aron sat across from me and eyed me cautiously. I couldn't bring myself to blame her. Between Imp curled up in my backpack, Mutt resting at my side, and Sylph draped over my head, I probably looked pretty intimidating.

To a pokémon, I probably looked like a lunatic to most people. Which, thinking about it, is still intimidating in its own way.

I kept periodically tossing pokéblocks trying to coax it closer, but the metallic pokémon adamantly refused to approach.

After fifteen minutes or so, I sighed and stood. As much as I wanted to be friends with every pokémon I met, I had a cave to scan. I roused Mutt and we made our way deeper into the cave, being careful not to approach the cautious aron and scare her away.

I'd already managed to sneak up on an abra before it teleported away, in addition to the makuhita, geodude, and mawile I'd scanned, I was fairly certain I was nearing the end of my business here anyways. I was tempted to call it quits right now anyways, I had a plausible diagram of the cave's ecosystem and really didn't want my team to get cornered like yesterday.

On a more personal note I wanted to get out of the dark and not run into another mawile, those were two things I'd rather avoid if possible.

Seriously, those jaws were terrifying.

But I was on an expedition, not a vacation. I had a job to do and I was going to do it well.

I was on my fourth trip through the deepest section of cave and about ready to head back anyways when something glinted that absolutely had not glinted the last time I'd walked this way. When I shone my flashlight towards the source though, there was only rough stone.

It wasn't even wet.

"Hey, Imp. Can you feel anything?" I asked quietly as the hairs on my neck stood up.

She craned her head around went still for a second before shifting all the way around and standing up in my backpack. I allowed her to point my gaze.

More rock.

"You sure?" I asked. I trusted her senses, but it was hard not to be jittery in the crushing darkness.

She hummed her affirmation. A sound like a ringing wine glass.

I fished out the umpteenth pokéblock and tossed it towards the wall and sat down.

Waiting game number 76, begin.

I contemplated turning my flashlight off, but unless whatever it was that was apparently hiding inside the wall started making noise I wouldn't be able to hear it in the dark.

I sat, and waited. And waited. Checked with Imp. Waited some more.

My patience was battling against my dislike of this cave and had been for a while. Thankfully, my tenuous patience was eventually rewarded.

A small, purple hand reached out of the cave floor and grabbed the food. I didn't waste a moment scanning while the hand failed to drag the food into the rock.

I glanced at my pokédex

' _Incomplete scan, please try again.'_

Looked like the hand alone wasn't enough. Not that I'd really expected it to be, but I really didn't want to go back to waiting. So I waited, holding my breath as the hand kept pulling against the small candy.

Then the whole pokémon popped out of the rock.

 _Ghost type, definetly._ I thought as it drifted through the solid matter.

I had about two seconds where it left its hiding spot, popped the food into its mouth, glanced at me with crystalline eyes, and dove back into the rock.

Thankfully...

' _Sableye: Dark/Ghost type'_

I'd gotten what I came for. Time to get out of this stupid cavern.

We'd made it far enough to see sunlight when Imp directed my attention back into the cave.

"What is it?" I asked, searching for something in the dark.

I found it the second she warbled again. One of the rocks was reflective and had a single large blue eye peeking out at me.

"Oh, well hey there," I said calmly, scanning it and glancing at my pokédex again.

' _Repeat specimen'? Must be the same one as earlier._

She just stared back at me.

I sat down and thought. She'd already accepted several pokéblocks from me, albeit at a distance. That she kept following me _might_ mean she wanted to come with and was just shy. The problem with that was that I'd already burned more time that I'd have liked trying to coax this particular pokémon.

But I was actually done now, so I didn't have nearly as much time pressure...

The coaxing began anew.

She stopped about ten feet away, same as before. I'd be lying if I said I that wasn't irritating.

"I know you like dry pokéblocks, you're not fooling anyone," I said to the cautious rock.

She stared back at me.

I sat for a couple minutes, juggling my options. I tried scooting forward slowly.

She shuffled away.

Changing spots didn't help either. Nor did throwing larger pieces.

Surprisingly, Imp lost patience before I did. She climbed out of my bag with an irritated hum and started walking towards the aron.

"Imp..." I wasn't sure what to say. She wouldn't start a fight intentionally, but I wasn't sure what she was doing.

She stepped lightly over to where the pokémon was now standing with a guarded look. It didn't back away from her though.

Imp knelt down in front of the steel type and hummed. Metallic pings and shuffles were offered in response After about thirty seconds of conversation, Imp stood back up and walked back towards me.

The aron followed.

It was always fascinating to watch pokémon talk with each other. I'd overheard Imp and Mutt talking every now and then, but it was an infrequent occurrence at best.

Imp nonchalantly hopped back into my backpack as the other pokémon stopped in front of me, regarding me with the same cautious look.

"Well then, would you like to come with us?" I asked.

She sat down.

I offered another pokéblock.

She nibbled it from my palm.

"Well then..." I said mostly to myself. "Guess you need a name."

She looked up at me.

"Marble?"

She made a sound like a stone flicked against a metal sheet.

"Marble it is. Now let's not keep the captain waiting. Off to Slateport."

"Not fer a while, I'm 'fraid," Briney said from his seat on the dock. "The ports 'round Slateport need yeh t' reserve a spot at the docks 'forehand. I have one fer noon tomorrow, so between tha' and the tide, settin' out now 'ould just be foolish. Sorry," he offered with a shrug.

"Don't be, I probably should have checked it out earlier. Not to mention you're doing this for free so I should hardly complain," I replied, feeling like a jerk for treating his boat like a taxi.

"Quit yer fussing. Yer good company when yer not tossin' yer food and ain't nobody made a true cure fer seasickness yet. I'll be ready t' leave 'round ten tomorrow - tha' work?"

I nodded and turned back towards the town. The waters around Dewford contained nothing other than magikarp and tentacool so I had basically no reason to go fishing. I could just cool my heels in the pokécenter, but I still had hours of daylight and I wanted to be at least marginally productive.

My eyes wandered to the gym.

I had a free evening and overnight for my team to rest up if they needed to. The gym was centered on fighting types, so I had the advantage in Imp - and much as I dislike it, there really aren't many ways for trainers to earn money other than battles. Who knew if I'd still have the stronger position when my funds ran out?

On the other hand, did I really want to let _money_ be a reason to send my team into a fight? Shouldn't I be getting reimbursed anyway, since I'm a researcher and not a competitor? Need to ask about that.

I juggled the problem for a minute before letting out an unhappy sigh.

"Well guys, we have a little under twenty four hours to burn before we set sail again. We are also going to need money. There is a gym we're fairly well equipped for. What do you guys think?"

Mutt and Imp glanced at each other and I could feel Imp shrug as Mutt sat down and panted up at me. Sylph gave a cheerful cry and Marble just looked up at me.

"Don't worry girl, I'd forfeit before making you go through a fighting type gym."

She made another tinging sound. _'Okay.'_

 _Looks like they're fine with it. Heck, you probably only really need Imp - and maybe Mutt too in case of type surprises._

 _Ugh, fine. I guess we're doing this. How about we just bring everyone? They might learn a thing or two from watching._

"Thank you very much, the door will open automatically when the challenge begins. Standard gym rules are in effect. You may bow out whenever you want, no items, and you only need to defeat Brawly. Good luck!" The receptionist showed me through the doors to the waiting room before they closed behind me.

"Well, guess there's no backing out now," I muttered. "I don't suppose anyone's about to evolve this time?"

Imp made an unamused noise and Mutt leveled an eye at me.

"Just checking," I couldn't help but grin.

Any further ribbing was put on hold as the automatic doors slid open, revealing...

"You've got to be kidding me," I hung my head as I tried to stare through the inky darkness.

A small sign by the door that I'd missed earlier had 'NO FLASHLIGHTS' painted across it.

"Wonderful."

I quickly fell back into the habit of letting Mutt and Imp guide me. Sylph also proved an able scout.

Between my three guides, I was able to make it all the way through the maze without getting caught. I did have to backtrack once and if I'd read one of Imp's warnings properly I'd almost run into someone, but the trip still proved uneventful.

Or at least I was in the room furthest from the doors where I'd entered. Whether or not this was my actual destination I wasn't sure since I still couldn't see a damn thing.

 _Well, here goes nothing._

"Assuming I've made it to the right place, I'd like to challenge Brawly to a fight now," I said into the darkness.

There was an intake of breath I would have missed if I wasn't focusing so hard.

Someone clapped twice and the lights slowly brightened back to normal levels.

"I'm impressed." The grey haired man said from a cushion where he sat. He looked to be in his early twenties and held himself with the kind of balance you only saw in martial artists "Most people get caught by at least one of my trainees before making it to me. Though by the looks of it you were letting your pokémon to the guiding."

I just nodded as I rubbed my eyes from the now bright lights.

"Looks like this is going to be interesting. Go, Judo," he released a very healthy looking machop.

"Imp, all yours," she hopped out of my backpack and took her place across from Judo.

"Let's get started. Judo, bulk up!"

"Imp, calm mind."

We each allowed our pokémon to build as best they were able. For a long moment we waited for our companions to finish. Brawly and I looked at each other.

I saw what he was trying to do. I had the type advantage and he knew it. But if he could get his machop focused enough he could effectively nullify my advantage. I was trying to look gullible by taking the presented opening to allow Imp to do the same even though it would do me much less good. All this was really going to come down to is who hit first, and Judo was almost certainly faster.

I hid my grin.

After a long moment, Imp was standing perfectly still and the air around her almost shimmered. Even from across the room I could see Judo's veins throbbing as he fell back into his stance, perfectly coiled.

"Karate chop!"

"Teleport!"

I felt a little mean when I saw Brawly's eyes widen as Imp simply vanished in front of the blow.

"Again!"

"Confusion!"

Imp's attack hit the machop in the same second he spotted her tucked into one of the corners. Brawly grit his teeth and recalled the extremely unconscious fighting type.

"Tai Chi, your turn," he said calmly tossing out a strange little pokémon that sat in a meditating pose.

I thought for a minute, and scanned the grey haired fighter.

 _That doesn't look like a straight fighting type, but I don't want to check my pokédex in front of him. Maybe... water or psychic too?_

"Imp, keep your focus. Mutt, you're up."

Mutt padded out in front of me and raised his hackles. The dual type across from him looked a little apprehensive.

"Reflect!" _Psychic, good._

"Bite!"

The shimmer visibly slowed Mutt, but not enough to keep him from getting his teeth around one of its crossed legs.

"Bulk up!"

"Bite, don't let it focus!"

Tai Chi tried to pry Mutt's jaws off even while he shook it like a chew toy, eventually flinging it across the room. It was still standing - or sitting as the case was - but didn't look so good.

"Focus punch!"

"Again!"

The opposing pokémon stood and drew its arm back in what looked like a picture perfect stance, but the motion was too slow. That was all it took for Mutt to close distance and break its concentration. And consciousness.

Brawly did not look very happy as he recalled another downed pokémon while my team remained unscathed.

"Krav, go time."

A titanic makuhita stood from where it solidified, standing level to my chest.

"Imp, your turn again."

She walked back forward, balancing perfectly with silent footfalls. She'd kept her focus, and given Brawly's expression he only just realized what that meant.

"Arm thrust!"

"Confusion!"

Imp simply took the hits while she meticulously lined up her own attack. In one burst of energy, the Makuhita fainted.

I recalled Imp and gave everyone a pokéblock. Brawly just silently recalled his own fallen partner.

There was a moment of silence where I fidgeted under his carefully neutral gaze.

"I would offer to let you use the healing tray, but it wouldn't seem your team is doing too badly,"

"Ah, yeah. I think I'm okay. Thank you though," I responded awkwardly. What were you supposed to do after making mincemeat of a gym leader?

"Anyways, if you'll follow me I'll get you your badge."

"Right."

We walked through a side door. I stood awkwardly while he went through healing his team. I jumped a little when he let out a sigh.

"I apologize it's unprofessional of me to be cross with you. You stacked the deck as far in your favor as you could, which is what any responsible trainer should do for their team. Besides, I tried to do the exact same thing at the start. If you don't mind me asking, though?"

I gave him a quizzical look, my strategy had been pretty simple.

"Why do you keep your team out of their pokéballs?"

 _Ah._

"Well, I'm actually on an expedition right now. I'm working for Professor Birch in Littleroot. As for my team, I'm trying an alternative method of catching pokémon that doesn't use pokéballs. Keeping them out is mostly a side effect of that."

"Oh? What's this 'method' of yours then?" He asked, removing his own pokéballs from the tray.

"It's not much really, I just try luring them close enough to scan. Birch made me this so I can scan something without having to catch it, it's been extremely useful," I showed him my watch/scanner/glove/thing.

"That's a scanner?" He asked perplexedly. "Could've fooled me."

"That was my first thought too, but it works perfectly. Anyways, thanks for the match," I started edging towards the door.

"Hold on a minute, I still haven't given you your winnings, or gotten your pokénav number," he grinned and moved over to a small desk and fished out a small metal case and his own pokénav.

"Oh right, thanks," I responded sheepishly, pulling mine off my belt.

After a minute the exchange was over.

"Well Wallace, I'd be lying if I said everything went like I expected it to, but your visit has been enlightening all the same. Keep in touch."

"I will."

If I ever saw another boat again it would be to soon.

"We're still 'nother ha' hour out lad."

"Eurgh," was the only sound I could make in response.

 _I wonder if I can make it the rest of the way through my expedition after this without using another boat-_

My empty hope was cut off by another lurch from my roiling gut and I sprinted to the railing once more.

"Sorry lad, I'd hoped yeh'd've got' yer sea legs by now," Mr. Briney apologized and handed me a bucket with a towel.

I wasted no time in removing the traces of my intolerance of boats.

"Some things just weren't meant to be, I guess. Anyway, how long was that? I was a little out of it."

"About two and a ha' hours. Yeh did better. Not 'nough to count, but better."

"Oh well. Thanks anyways. I hope you're not offended if I say I'll never set foot on another boat ever again."

"If yeh can even manage tha' I'll be impressed enough for it teh not matter."

"I'll figure it out. Thanks again for the ride, if not the trip."

I stood from my prone position and waved to Briney one more time before turning back to Slateport. It was midday, so I'd still have time to get the lay of Slateport-

"Hey, are you a trainer? Let's battle!"

After I got off the docks that is.

It was a pleasant day, with a light breeze, clear skies, and a warm sun. Which of course meant that everyone and their brother was on the beach that day. Combine this with the fact that I kept my team outside of their pokeballs meant everyone with a pokémon wanted a fight.

The only good thing about this was that my team was visibly well trained, which kept a lot of the more casual trainers from challenging me.

Not all, but a lot.

Once I finally got off the beach, I made my way around the market.

I quickly discovered something about life soon thereafter. If it could be sold, one would find it at the Slateport market. I'd known that intellectually - Slateport was one of the biggest commerce centers in all of Hoenn - but it's another thing entirely to see it right in front of you.

There were TMs, medicines, vitamins, doormats, plushies, building supplies, incense, perfume, berries, scarves, hats, and those were just the things I saw at a glance.

Out of curiosity, I approached the vitamin stand.

"Hello there lad! I see you're a trainer, any chance I can interest you in some of my fine products?" The elderly man at the booth gestured to the arranged bottles.

"Can you give me the thirty second version of what you sell?"

He puffed up a little and gave a smile.

"Everything for your nutritional supplement needs. Most pokémon subsist all but exclusively on berries, and while they can survive like that it tends to leave them with mild deficiencies, keeps them from growing or evolving like trained pokémon do. What I offer is a way to make sure your team gets everything they need," he explained.

"Seems reasonable, how much?"

"I'll admit, they're a touch expensive, but each bottle should last you a good while," he acquiesced.

I glanced at the price tags and had to forcibly keep my jaw from dropping.

 _Well, I'm rather glad I remembered to pick up the prize money from Brawly._

"I have enough extra money for one bottle, two if you sell it well. Which ones would you recommend?"

I walked away from the stand, looking over the single bottle of vitamin supplements in my hand. After much debating I'd settled on a general vitamin blend. Not the best for any given scenario, but helpful to have around.

After that I wandered around until I found myself at the plushie stand. I hadn't meant to stop, but I was forced to once I realized Mutt was missing.

"Mutt! Drop that!"

He immediately dropped the azurill doll but kept wagging like an idiot. _'Look what I found!'_

"We can't return this like _this_ , you do know that, right?" I said, motioning to the now thoroughly slobbered object.

He just panted up at me, wagging.

I sighed.

"Fine," I picked up and held his new toy out to him while I fished out my wallet.

Approaching the stand, I saw the cashier looking over the display with a confused expression.

"Hello, how much for an azurill doll?"

She looked at me, Mutt, and the newly claimed chew toy and connected the dots with a small smile.

"100 poké, and I'll pretend not to notice that you technically stole it to begin with," she said, watching Mutt prance around with his new possession.

"Sorry, he's normally better behaved than this," I apologized, handing over the allotted amount.

"Don't worry about it. Anyone else in your group want anything?"

I looked around and took stock. Mutt was lying down with his new toy between his paws looking happy as a loon. Imp was looking around to see if there was anything interesting enough to stay awake for. Sylph was still draped over my head and apparently uninterested. I hadn't felt Minnow's ball wobble. Marble was trying to crane her head to see what was on the table.

"Hey girl, want a look around?"

She looked up at me and blinked.

"Here, let me just- oof," I tried to pick her up, shortly before remembering she weighed more than I did. "Ok, that's not going to work... Here," I took one of the items off of the table and showed it to her. One by one she looked over and sniffed the items, before starting to look bored.

"Guess she's not interested. Sorry again for the trouble!" I waved as we walked away, Mutt still holding his toy.

I made a brief detour to pass by the berry stand as well. The prices were good so I bought what I couldn't scavenge on my own.

After that we wandered all the way to the other end of the market before Marble found what she'd been looking for.

*Cling*

I looked over to where Marble had made the noise and saw her sitting by a rack of scarves.

"You want a scarf?" I asked, approaching the display.

She stood up and wandered over under the draped articles before emerging with an ivory colored one held in her mouth. I made a mental note that she was acting almost as intelligently as Imp while I knelt down and glanced at the price tag.

I drew a breath in between my teeth.

 _500 poké. That's not cheap, not with what I have left._

"You sure? There's a whole bunch of other..."

Marble was giving me puppy eyes, it was working too.

"You're really sure?"

She gave a hopeful trill. I sighed.

"Excuse me," I stood and approached the register. "I would like to buy this."

One scarf, chew toy, a mixed selection of berries, and bottle of vitamins later, I finally got out of the market. Whereupon I found myself facing a building with some of the most sickeningly colorful writing I had ever seen.

 _Pokémon Fanclub! All pokéfans welcome!_

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a _little_ curious. But if these particular 'pokéfans' were as enthusiastic as the ones back in Johto...

I turned to walk away, just a hair too slow.

The front door flew open and an elderly lady walked out with a whismur at her heels, a bow tied on its head. 

"-a big city my dear, I'm sure we'll find someone," she said with a hushing gesture to the other elderly woman who followed her out.

"We'd best hope so. Otherwise it's just going to be us old crones soon! You mark my words, we- oh!" She stopped in surprise as-

 _Oh, Mutt you hairy little..._

He had trotted over to the pair and wagged up at them, interrupting them by showing them his newest toy. It took them less than a second to track him back to me.

I saw their eyes lock on to me and my team.

I didn't even try to resist as they all but hustled us into the building.

The club wasn't... bad.

Granted, I could have built a computer out of stones and had it calculate the meaning of life in the time it took me to get out of there, but the visit was still more productive than I'd thought it would be.

Between the group activities that were comprised of little more than talking about how much they loved pokémon, I wound up collecting a few helpful items. A brush for Mutt that should also work for Sylph. A small polishing cloth that should do the same thing for Marble. And a small bell on a ribbon.

I was a little confused about the last one.

"It'll bring you luck dear," one of the quieter ladies had said. I didn't really want to ask more though for fear of starting another 'activity'.

Once I'd finally made it out, I put several blocks between myself and the building. _Then_ I stopped to examine the bell.

It appeared to be a simple piece of metal, but something about it...

I wasn't sure. So I gave it an experimental ring.

...

Nothing. Not a sound. I felt a little cheated.

I was just looking around for a garbage can to toss it in when Imp hummed from my pack, having woken up just before my escape.

I just craned my head back to glance at her. She had her one visible eye locked on to the bell in my hand.

I gave it another ring. She gave another more intense hum and reached a forelimb towards the object. I held it out to her.

She took it, balancing it between her two digits.

"You can keep it if you want, I was just going to toss it," I offered.

She turned back around and sat back down in my pack, still holding the mute bell.

I shrugged and continued walking.

As much as I just wanted to keep wandering around Slateport, I did actually have business here. I needed to get the Devon Goods to one Captain Stern.

It figures then that the second I set my mind to getting something done it had to get pushed to the backburner.

I was making my way to the shipyard where I hoped to either find Stern or someone who could point me to him when I idly glanced up.

Just in time to spot a grunt in blue run into the naval museum. I reflexively made to follow before pausing.

 _I might actually have a chance at getting one of these chumps arrested if I call the pol-_

Imp abruptly hummed a tone of panic, jerking her head around towards the museum. Mutt also cocked his head to the side and dropped his toy before letting out a concerned whimper.

"Do we have a minute?" I asked, grabbing the toy and stuffing it into a side pocket of my pack. I didn't know what the grunt was doing to elicit a response like this, but if there wasn't enough time for a call...

She gave another urgent sound and jumped out of my pack. I noticed that she'd tied the bell to one of her wrists.

 _No time then. Damn._

I scooped Imp up as I ran towards the museum.

 _At least there's only one-_

The automatic sliding doors opened and I nearly dropped Imp. There had to be at least a eight grunts keeping watch over a crowd of terrified civilians. On the bright side that at least explained why Imp was so agitated.

Then one of them spotted me.

A shout led to the rest of them spotting me.

Not having time to adapt or develop a new plan, I did the first thing that came to mind. I turned around and ran out the door, making a show of pulling out my Pokénav.

Once I was out of sight I glanced at my team.

 _The only Aqua grunts I've fought have all used poochyenas. Imp's probably my best bet for anything else, but I don't want to push my luck with a type disadvantage._

"Mutt, on point!"

He obediently took his position at the front, focusing on the museum door. A brief moment passed where I started thumbing the number pad on the nav I was still palming, just for two grunts to come charging out of the doors.

If I could beat these guys fast enough, I might be able to call the police anyways before more backup came.

They eyed my team before each tossing a pokéball. A large zubat and scruffy poochyena appeared, readying at their trainers' commands.

 _Two on two huh? I can work with this._

"Marble, you're up!"

Things... Had not quite gone according to plan. They hadn't gone _badly,_ per se, I _was_ able to deal with all of the grunts inside the museum.

After I'd beaten the first two, three more came out to see what was taking so long. After I'd beaten _them_ two more had come. That had led to a radio call that brought the remaining four out.

On the upside, I was able to beat everyone. It was actually pretty easy since no one had more than one pokémon.

On the downside. This led to all of them being outside when I regained control of the situation. And thus...

"This is a bust! Everyone rendevous at the hideout!"

I only just avoided the human stampede that resulted from the command. Imp was already off to the side, Mutt and Sylph were fast enough to get out of the way.

Marble was not.

Fortunately this worked in our favor. One of the grunts tripped on her and ate dirt, utterly failing to move her.

In the moment where he was too surprised to respond, I sat on him. Having no formal training in self defense and a need to keep someone pacified didn't leave me with many options.

And besides, the look on his face was worth it.

I fished out my pokénav and finally dialed the number for emergency services, ignoring the profanity my cushion was spewing.

About half an hour after I arrived, the lone remaining grunt had been led away in handcuffs and I had given my account of events.

A half hour well spent, if more stressful than I'd have liked.

Focusing back on my original task, I distributed potions as needed and helped Imp back into my pack before making my way to the shipyard.

Then turning around when the workers pointed me right back to the museum.

By the time I got back most of the crowd had dispersed. There were still police wandering around behind the yellow tape as well as a youngish man with narrow shoulders and brown hair talking with one of the older officers.

"Any idea how much longer it'll be? I understand you need to be thorough but I had some rather important files on the computer upstairs that I would very much like to check on," the younger man asked.

The policeman sighed.

"Depends on how much we dig up. If this were a simple robbery we'd be gone by now, but we're not sure just exactly what they were up to. We'll do what we can Stern, but-"

I made my approach when I heard the name I was looking for, not that I was eavesdropping or anything. The older cop stopped when he spotted me.

"Oh, Wallace was it? Something you forgot?"

"I was actually looking for Captain Stern here. I have a delivery for you from Mr. Stone," I explained, retrieving the briefcase from my bag around a protesting Imp.

The captain quirked his eyebrows in surprise. "I was expecting Mr. Sullivan, though now that I think about it he _did_ say something about having to send someone else. Something about 'acquisition complications'. Anyways, thank you," he accepted the case as I offered it. "This'll give me something to work on until the police finish up here. Thanks again." He parted with a nod.

I stood there for a minute.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's a trainer like you doing deliveries for Mr. Stone?" The officer asked.

"It was more of a one time thing. His deliveries kept getting targeted by Team Aqua - and apparently still are - and I was headed this way anyways. I'd helped his staff a few times already so he just asked me to do the delivery instead," I explained. "Speaking of, I should probably go let him know it's done. Anything else officer?"

He shook his head.

"Alright then, Imp?"

One teleport later and I was standing in the waiting area of Mr. Stone's office.

I also scared the hell out of his receptionist.

She had been walking back to her desk and leapt back with a scream, dropping her coffee in the process.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" I immediately apologized.

"Goodness, who- Ah, Mr. Wallace. Excuse me," she took a second to get herself back in order before taking her usual spot behind the ornate desk.

She leaned forward and tapped a button I couldn't see.

"Mr. Hill? I'm sorry to trouble you but I managed to spill my coffee up here and you know how Mr. Stone is about these things. Could you send someone up?"

"Sure thing ma'am. Cody's on his way up, was there anything else?" A male voice asked from the receiver.

"That was all, thank you," she pulled her hand back and looked at me. "Mr. Stone's in a meeting right now, but he should be done in a few more minutes."

I nodded and took a seat, taking out the polishing cloth and giving Marble a scrub. It was a little surprising just how _shiny_ her armor was without the omnipresent layer of dust.

Once I was putting the finishing touches on her sole back spike thing the doors opened and Steven strode out.

"You really should come by Mossdeep sometime. Away from all this hubbub. It'll- Oh! Wallace, you work quickly." He grinned at me, his voice betraying some surprise.

"Easy to when I have a friend who can jump landmasses on a whim." I grinned back, giving Imp a pat.

Mr. Stone stuck his head out of the doors and spotted me before we could continue. "Thought I heard your voice Wallace. Must confess, I wasn't expecting you back for a while longer."

"What can I say? I'm just the best messenger ever." I said with an excessive flourish. "Anyways, I got the briefcase to Captain Stern. Thought I should drop by and let you know."

"He hasn't said anything yet, but I imagine that's in part due to your preferred method of travel." Mr. Stone quirked a look at the resident teleporter.

I gave a tentative nod. "Partially. The museum where he was working also got robbed this morning by Team Aqua. Nothing was taken but he's probably going to busy with cleanup for a bit."

The CEO frowned at my words. "Team Aqua targeted Slateport Museum? That's... troubling. Regardless, was there anything else?"

"That was all."

"Well then if you'll excuse me I need to make sure nothing else is getting stolen. Take care, and my offer about our labs is standing."

Mr. Stone made his way to the stairwell. Steven followed and gave a friendly wave that I returned before he vanished from sight.

I was about to have Imp teleport back to Slateport when I thought for a moment and approached the secretary.

"Is there any chance Mr. Sullivan is around?"

"You have a knack for appearing unexpectedly, you know that?" Mr. Sullivan quirked a look at me as we moved through the lab terminals.

"I did, actually. People seem to keep telling me that. No idea why, though." I gave an exaggerated shrug.

Mr. Sullivan just snorted and shook his head. "Kids these days. Was there anything in particular you were looking for?"

"I wanted to make sure the exp. share was working properly and if that poké-translator thing was going anywhere."

"Well I can tell you off the top of my head that the translator hasn't had any real progress but Marcus seems adamant that it'll work with enough effort. As for your little gizmo." He stopped at the desk of Dr. Burke, the scientists who'd lent it to me. "You might as well ask the guy who made it, because I haven't the foggiest."

The scientist looked up from his desk at our approach. "Ah! I was hoping you'd be back soon. This is about the exp. share, correct?"

I nodded.

"If you'd follow me. If you have time that is." He got up from his desk with sudden energy.

I nodded again, hiding a small smirk at the energetic scientist as he guided us to a side room near the workbenches.

Inside there was a large fish tank with a line of sensors around the rim. I unclasped the device from Minnow's ball and handed it to the eager scientist. Turning my lone pokéball towards the tank I pressed the button and-

 _Wha-_

I barely started to notice anything was wrong before getting crushed into the wall. The handful of my remaining neurons that weren't trying to find a way to breathe quickly puzzled out what was going on.

 _Of all times to evolve..._

I was - by some minor miracle - still holding Minnow's ball, so I quickly tapped the button to recall him to the device. I immediately fell to the floor and started gasping for air.

After a brief minute the world stopped spinning and I looked back around the room.

 _Whoops._

Everything in the room had been smashed by the sudden expansion. The tank, the sensors, the computer, the work table.

 _The people, the pokémon._

"I... Take it that was unintentional?" Mr. Sullivan asked dryly, dusting himself and helping Dr. Burke up.

"In my defense he hadn't evolved as of this morning when I fed him breakfast." I said sheepishly. "Sorry about your equipment."

"Well, I think I can still work with this. The amount of training needed to evolve a magikarp is fairly well documented. So..." Burke trailed off.

"I'll give you what data I have if it helps make up for the property damage." I immediately agreed.

The... incident didn't escape the security's attention. Dr. Burke stepped in on my behalf and helped mitigate the damage, but there was still a fairly tense discussion about safety procedures where I did my best to keep my head down.

Eventually, things got sorted out. Minnow's sudden appearance hadn't caused any structural damage, so it mostly came down to replacing what had been broken.

I eventually elected to leave the exp. share in Dr. Burke's care. I probably _could_ find use for it in the future but I'd rather give him a chance to work the kinks out of it before I trusted another member of my team to its effects.

Speaking of which, once I had gotten away I made my way to Rustboro Lake where I found myself currently.

"Let's try that again, shall we?" I asked rhetorically, pulling the pokéball from my belt yet again.

I pressed the button and got my first look at a gyarados in real life.

Pokémon could get pretty big. I'd seen a pidgeot before that stood head and shoulders higher than me. Onyx could get larger than a bus if left to grow for long enough. The legendary birds were said to be even bigger.

They all had nothing on this.

Even with only his head held up, it would have taken four of me stacked on top of one another just to meet his eyes. That didn't even take the first quarter of his body either, the rest of his bulk trailed into the water as far as I could see.

I looked up at him.

"All this, and not even a wobble?" I asked with a smirk.

He lowered his head down to me. Large eyes looking before sliding forward.

*Sniff* *Sniff*

It took me a minute to realize that he was smelling me as each inhalation took several seconds.

"Greedyguts, here." I pulled out a pokéblock and tossed it to him, watching it vanish into the cavern that was his mouth.

He gave a rumble that _sounded_ happy? Maybe? He hadn't gotten much more expressive even after evolving.

Though as he curled around in front of me and offered me a seat shortly after doing so, I was fairly certain I'd guessed correctly. And who was I to turn down a chance to ride a damn _sea dragon_?

"Who wants to come with?"

Sylph took off from my hat and started circling around Minnow's head before hanging himself off of one of the large eyebrow spikes. Imp just hummed from my pack and didn't move while Mutt and Marble both took a seat on the shoreline.

"Suit yourselves. Onward Minnow! To victory! To glory! To-" _sploosh._

I was cut off by my mount diving straight into the water, utterly ignoring my bubbly protests.

By the time I managed to coax Minnow back to the shoreline where the other two of my team were napping, wet felt like an inadequate description.

I pulled my sopping self off his back and just took a minute to catch my breath.

"Okay. Glad I didn't try that in the ocean. Minnow, while I appreciate the _demonstration_ , the rest of us have a rather vested interest in breathing."

He rumbled at me.

"Yeah sure, laugh it up. But we're not going to be doing that again until we figure out a compromise that doesn't involve asphyxiation." I gave him a look. "Anyways, I've already spent enough time today goofing around. We've got work to do."

I recalled Minnow to his ball and set about drying my things. Once I was done with that it would be time to get back on the road.

After all I _was_ on an expedition.

(May)

The skarmory collapsed, the last of its strength failing as Combusken drew back. I wordlessly tossed his ball and recalled him before putting him back on my belt before tossing an unregistered ball to the barely conscious bird.

' _Specimen Processed. Skarmory has been transferred to the PC.'_

The ball hummed for a moment before going still. It wouldn't open until I locked one of my other balls to the PC. Not that I would, I'd put far too much effort into my current team to switch them out for some ill-tempered bird.

I brushed some ash out of my hair for the umpteenth time with and idle gesture, wishing I'd bought a hat back in Fallabor.

My hand absently brushed over the various spheres on my belt. Combusken had been doing well in the volcanic conditions, his more recent development in fighting techniques had helped even more. Grovyle had a profound dislike of the volcanic conditions that consistently impaired his ability to fight, so she would have to wait. Maybe it would be better to train Slugma next, being the most accustomed to the ashen landscape. Or Marshtomp given his type advantage over the resident fire types.

 _Decisions, decisions..._


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I keep being indecisive. I kinda want to finish this story since the game is short enough that I actually have a chance of _finishing_ it. On the other hand I only have a couple of ideas on how to keep things interesting and I've only made it to the second gym.

Maybe I'll try for a more aggressive butterfly effect. See if I can derail faster than I can build. _Maybe._

Chapter 6: Two Roads

(Wallace)

Minnow had to go back to his ball when we needed to teleport. Imp was getting more powerful, but he weighed more than the rest of us put together by several factors.

That did not however prevent me from letting him out once we were back on the road.

Once we'd gotten past the north gate of Slateport I let Minnow out again. He uncoiled and stretched upwards as far as he could, languishing in the open space.

I stood next to him, just marvelling as he stretched higher than the trees around us before lowering back down. He offered me a perch again, one which I accepted only because there was no water in sight.

Imp carefully looked around before relaxing back into my pack. Sylph flew over to Marble and perched on her back spike. Not that I was blaming them, our last venture had been... damp.

I was dragged from my thoughts as Minnow lurched forward and started down the trail, making wide, shallow curves back and forth.

It didn't take long for our new method of travel to start causing trouble.

Sylph suddenly circled around my head with a small cry before flitting back to Marble. I followed his flight path and saw that she'd fallen a ways behind, trying and failing to catch up.

"Minnow, hold up." I tugged on the fin in front of me.

He didn't respond.

"Minnow." I pulled a little bit harder.

He rumbled but didn't slow down.

"Minnow!"

He shifted in what looked like irritation as he slowed to a stop and turned to leer at me. I glared right back as I hopped off.

"Don't give me that look, her legs are about as long as my hand."

Marble was able to trundle back up to the group by the time I got back to the ground, immediately sitting down and making a rhythmic whistling sound that I took to be panting.

I contemplated the problem.

 _Marble can't keep up this pace but Minnow's not likely to slow down much more than he already has. I can't carry Marble on Minnow's back either, she's_ way _too heavy for me to even try. One of them has to go back to the ball._

 _Minnow's being the bigger problem but he's spent almost all the time since I caught him cooped up, even with the exp. share he easily had the least freedom of the group. I can hardly blame him for wanting to stretch his legs so to speak. On the other hand Marble's never been in a ball before and I'd rather not corner her with the decision when either answer is unfair to someone. Either she gets railroaded into accepting, or she refuses and Minnow has to go back to his ball._

"What do you think, Imp?"

I felt her shift. She gave a low hum before perking up. I let her out of my pack at her behest and she made her way to Minnow. Approaching his head she climbed up the side of his face without a hint of hesitation, which is more than I could say with the look he was giving me.

What surprised me even more though was when she slid the bell from her wrist and tied it to one of his spikes. Once it was secure she gave it a tap. I couldn't hear anything, but Minnow's large eyes swivelled to the miniscule object. Imp then climbed the rest of the way onto his head and took a seat.

I was a bit surprised, but Imp seemed confident enough. I held a leppa out for Marble before climbing back on my usual seat, already noting how weird my pack felt without Imp's weight.

"Right, let's try this again." I gave Minnow a pat and he started forward. I couldn't make out if there was any sound, but Imp shifted and Minnow visibly slowed down. We were still moving a _little_ fast for Marble, but it was only a hustle, not a run.

My current plan was to travel until noon before I set up camp and spend the rest of the day cataloguing this particular section of the Hoenn National Forest. It would probably be a couple days before I could get all the data I needed; and when compared to the two day hike from Slateport to Mauville it meant I could take things slow.

I had Imp to thank for 'taking it slow' to even be on the table. Minnow had been a remarkably docile magikarp which was probably the only reason why he wasn't a particularly violent gyarados. Even so, it apparently took the combined effort of the strange bell and Imp's influence to keep him from constantly surging ahead.

I hadn't let him fight yet, I wasn't quite sure I could rein him in.

Thankfully though, any prospective battlers had had second thoughts upon seeing Minnow's full size.

Whatever happened though, I'd deal with it later. I had data to collect.

What was the saying? "If you want to make Arceus laugh, make plans."?

I'd gotten camp set up and left my team to wander, leaving Minnow under Imp's supervision. I only just started to think that might not be the best idea when I heard a roar that could only be my errant dragon.

Sprinting in the direction of crashing trees, I quickly came upon a scene I'd never actually thought I would see.

Minnow was coiling and roaring, focused entirely on a small pack of green dog-like pokémon. Even as I watched though, he adamantly refused to get closer than ten feet to the growling quadrupeds. He was fighting, and he was _losing._

I understood why when the wind brought the scent of ozone.

 _There is exactly_ one _thing that will reliably put down a gyarados._

 _Electricity._

"Minnow! Back!" I yelled, running towards him. He either failed to notice or simply didn't care as he lunged forward like a colossal snake.

The pack of electric types collectively charged a single bolt that slammed into the side of his head, making him veer off and smash into another group of trees. He started coiling again but was obviously slower between the uncontrolled spasms.

"Minnow! Easy, you don't need to fight." I tried to yell calmly, placing myself between the sea dragon and his opponents.

He continued coiling until his head was once again swaying above his bulk. It was obvious he was hurting.

That was about when I spotted Imp clinging to his back. I couldn't hear anything but I could tell Imp was doing something, given the concern that was psychically radiating from her. There was a tense few moments when Minnow rumbled angrily and the local fauna growled back.

"Minnow, there's nothing to be gained here. Come on." I stood my ground between them.

There was a silence of sorts.

Minnow lowered his head.

I shot a look at the other party. "Shoo."

They departed.

I turned back to my injured teammate. "Let's get you fixed up."

Two potions and a handful of berries later and Minnow was more or less back in shape. That still left me with a bit of a problem though.

"So what happened?" I asked Imp.

She pointed towards the bushes where the pack of what I now knew to be electrikes had exited.

"So Minnow bumped into them?" She nodded. "Did he start the fight?" She shook her head.

I sighed and leaned back against Minnow's massive side.

"Well, that does make things a little bit easier. At least now I know you aren't as trigger happy as I'd feared. I _do_ still need to collect data though..." I scratched my chin.

Minnow let out a rumbling sigh.

"For what it's worth, I _am_ sorry. I shouldn't have immediately let you out in a forest filled with electric types... So it might just be better for you to go back in your ball for now anyways. There's a better chance of May asking me out on a date than you sitting still for the rest of the day."

I got up and made my way up to Minnow's face. I took his ball off of my belt and looked him in the eye.

"I'll let you back out once we're somewhere you don't need to worry about, okay?"

He let out another sigh, humid air washing over me. _'Alright'_

I tossed the device and watched as he was collapsed into the sphere before tucking it back on my belt. I was left with my thoughts as I made my way back towards camp.

The number of places where I could freely allow a gyarados to run free were limited to say the least. And the places where I could let him out _and_ keep track of him were even more so.

 _You're not thinking about this like a trainer. He's a gyarados, if you don't teach him he isn't going to learn. A couple good habits will do him more good than any amount of babysitting will._

 _But how exactly should I go about building those habits? I'm not dumb enough to miss that this forest would be the perfect place to build negative associations but I'm not going to train him here unless I can find a carrot to go with this stick. Sea dragons aren't exactly the most pliable of pokémon._

I thought for a minute, scratching my chin as I arrived at my bedroll. I thought for several minutes after that as well.

Pokéblock is too menial and I doubted I could provide enough to matter. The bell helped but was more of a stopgap than a solution. Something was also telling me a pat on the head and some nice words would only make things worse. Imp was also helping but she's no trainer.

 _Okay, so I've established I have no idea how to fix this problem. Time to ask for some help. Dad's specialty is normal type, and on a more personal note I'd rather not drag him into this. Birch couldn't train a poochyena to sit down. May... Nope. Roxanne probably wouldn't appreciate my asking about a water type. Brawly's a thought, but he might also just make things worse... Man, do I really not know anyone who-_

A thought hit me.

 _...Well, it's worth a shot._

I looked back over the kaleidoscopic sign of the pokéfan club building.

There wasn't anyone inside that I could hear and my hope was that everyone had gone home for the day so I had an excuse to leave.

No point in waiting any longer, I drew a breath and pushed the door open. The main room was empty, save for the old lady who had given me the bell. She had been brushing her persian with obvious fondness before looking up at me.

She cracked a smile. "Thought you'd be back." She said knowingly. It was only the second time I'd actually heard her speak.

I scratched the back of my head nervously, not quite sure how to respond to that. "Well, guilty as charged I guess."

She only chuckled lightly before going back to brushing her feline companion. I exchanged a glance with Mutt who seemed similarly confused.

The silence got dense enough that I was starting to ponder blurting something out when she spoke again.

"You young folk only know how to run around and solve problems, so I doubt you just came back for the company and enjoy the ones that have already been fixed. It's not anything to do with family or friends, you've only met us today. It's not any of your little troupe, even I can see you care for them as much as they care for you. No."

She leveled a look at me.

"It's about that ball on your belt, isn't it?"

I blinked.

"Yes. It is."

She grinned before standing up and brushing herself off. "Let's take this outside."

I followed her out of the building and down a winding path that lead out the back and into the forest. A few short minutes of walking brought us down a well-kept nature trail to a clearing.

The ground was flat and bare in a wide circle, leaving the clearing almost looking like...

A training area.

"As clever as an old crone like me can be, I'm afraid you'll need to show me the problem before I go throwing any more wisdom around." She turned back to me.

I pursed my lips, still a little confused by the direction this meeting had taken. Deciding there was nothing to be gained by making this any harder, I pulled Minnow off of my belt and expanded his ball.

"You may want to stand back."

She quirked an eyebrow at me but took a few steps backwards anyways, leaving her on the edge of the dirt circle.

I let Minnow out.

Instead of watching him languish again in the open space, I watched the old lady and tried to gauge her response.

A minute crinkling of her brow. That was it.

Minnow finally stopped stretching and curled into an enormous coil of scales and fins, his head perched on top and peering down at the old lady and I.

Without even a hitch in her gate, she walked forward until she was arm's length from his massive bulk. They just looked at each other for a long moment.

"You've done well, already training him to be this calm. I take it that he's still a bit too trigger happy?" She asked without looking at me.

"Partially? He was docile even as a magikarp and he hasn't actually _started_ any fights yet. It's been extremely difficult to rein him in after he gets started. He has let me ride him though." I scratched the back of my head, feeling acutely aware of how under qualified I was to train a gyarados.

"... Tricky." She muttered after a moment, it didn't sound like it was directed to anyone. "Most folks who get far enough to evolve a magikarp just keep them in their pokéballs. But you don't want to do that, even to someone so inherently temperamental.

"Tell me boy, what do you know about pokémon?" She asked simply.

I was unsure how to respond. "Could you be more specific?"

"What do all pokémon have in common?"

That wasn't much better. I thought on it anyways.

Apparently that was supposed to be enough of a hint for me to get it quickly. "Let's try this, why do pokémon allow us to control them?" She asked after a minute. "Because let's be honest - if they didn't, there's not much we could do to make them."

I was glad that she had given me one more hint, because that wasn't the direction I had taken the question. I still wasn't quite sure where she _was_ going.

It was a good question though. When it came right down to it pokémon were capable of physics breaking feats. The very engines that powered the forces of nature that kept the world turning had pokémon at their core. The three guardian birds, Ho-oh and Lugia, the three dogs of legend, the Mew, and others yet undiscovered.

Even the very laws of the world had seen fit to _submit_ to people who'd proven worthy.

So what was it that made people worthy? Was it a trait of the heart? Empathy or compassion? Something that ensured the power the greatest of trainers held wouldn't be misused?

I wanted to think I was right.

The old lady chuckled right before I opened my mouth, actually breaking eye contact with Minnow to give me a wry look. "Boy you have no idea how much I wish you were right. Kindness, a _heart_ , that might be why they're okay with some of us. But pokémon themselves are capable of feeling love, they don't need us for that. Why they _listen_ to us? Is because we're _smarter._

"Now, let me remind this little dragon of yours. Missy?" She looked down at her persian. "Fake Out."

The tan pokémon _moved._ There was the sound of a loud slap and Minnow flinched away from something impacting the side of his face. I glanced the bell flying away from its perch.

There was a stunned silence from all members of my team. Then Minnow roared.

I'd heard about pokémon that had been trained from hatching, the kind of pokémon that made gym leaders forfeit. Trainers who could hone a pokémon to _perfection._

This was the first of those pokémon I had ever met.

Minnow had done his best to pin down the impossibly fast cat, and after failing to do that he'd gone after her trainer.

By the time Minnow had collapsed from exhaustion, the old lady hadn't even moved and Missy didn't have a scratch.

I didn't - _couldn't_ \- do anything. Minnow wouldn't have listened, and the old lady...

I really needed to get her name.

Once the largest member of my team was well and truly down for the count, she walked up to his head. She knelt down and said something that I was too far away to hear before pulling out what looked like a revive and tossing into his mouth. Then she stood and started walking back to me.

"Give him time to rest and actually let him battle sometime, you can placate a dragon but you can't change its nature." She said, like she was listing groceries or talking about the weather.

Then she walked away.

"Wait."

She stopped and peered back at me.

"What's your name?"

"Just call me Mrs. Aka, everyone does."

All I could do was stand there while she walked away. I was pulled from my very confused thoughts by the sound of movement. Minnow was pulling himself back up, looking better from the medicine but far from perfect.

He drew himself up and we looked at each other. I could almost feel the old- Mrs. Aka's eyes on my back.

"I would like to keep you on the team, but we're going to need some rules to do that."

The sea dragon bowed his head.

The next few days were thankfully uneventful. The only real thing of note was Sylph evolving into an enormous mouth with wings, marking the first evolution that hadn't blindsided me. I still kept Minnow in his ball more than I'd have liked to, but that was mostly to get people to actually challenge me. Between that and the number of electric types the local trainers seemed to favor meant Minnow actually got some real training in.

Mornings were spent battling so I could wear Minnow down some, and afternoons were spent collecting data while my team rested.

I currently found myself wandering back up the disconnected portion of route 103. It had taken about a day to get to the part of the bay that separated it from the portion adjacent to Littleroot. Were it any further I would've just had Imp teleport us back to the trail fork, but I didn't want to get too used to using her like that and Minnow still had some energy to burn.

So here I was, on Minnow's back with a strange sensation I couldn't quite seem to shake. I'd noticed it about midmorning but I wasn't actually sure when it had started.

It was like a smell, but too loud. Or more like a color that felt wrong.

Whatever it was it was very confusing.

Trying to figure out _what_ and _when_ sure wasn't working, so I focused instead on _where_ it was coming from.

That wasn't much better. It was like... Well I'd already established that it wasn't like anything that I could use my vocabulary to describe, which wasn't helped by that fact that the whole conflicting ensemble was so subtle that it almost seemed to vanish when I wasn't focusing on it.

 _Where do ocean waves start? When did I start thinking instead of just feeling? Why do people dream about flight?_

There are some things that can't quite be pinned down, this was one of them. Shoot if I thought about this much harder I might be in danger of poetry. I shook my head, disturbing Imp from her usual perch in my backpack.

She leaned away from me with a groggy hum and the feeling (sense?) abruptly vanished. Imp didn't appear to notice and shuffled around before leaning forward again and-

Her heartpiece touched the back of my neck again and the _thing_ came back with it.

"Imp, are you doing that?" I asked, for lack of a better response.

She hummed again and I could feel the outline of her confused response. I focused on the sensation again as best I was able.

' _Is this you?'_

There was surprise in her response before it started to... focus? Distill? Words continued to fail me.

It closed in tighter around me. The process was wobbly and slow but eventually the stuff that felt like almost-energy was wrapped around me like some...thing. Imp was focusing hard on whatever it was, and while I trusted her not to do anything dangerous I had _no_ idea what was-

My hand jerked upwards. There had been no command or consent from my brain in the motion, just nerves firing and movement.

I'd like to say I reacted professionally. That I told her that as incredible as the implications of what had just happened were, we needed to test it properly and set some rules about its use. That my brain was whirring with the ideas of what could come of this.

"What the balls?!" was what actually came out of my mouth.

Minnow slowed to a stop and glanced back at me, as did the rest of my team, looking for my cause of alarm. My cause of alarm was sitting in my backpack and seemed just as surprised as me.

"Okay, we need to figure this out." I said mostly to myself as I hopped off and let Imp out of my pack.

I sat down in a shady spot and motioned for Imp to sit across from me. The thing that shall henceforth simply be called 'the sensation' for the sake of mental abbreviation _might_ have still been floating at the edges of my perception but I might have just been making it up.

"Okay, for starters, did you do that?" I asked the psychic.

She hummed confusion and shrugged.

"Alright, so let's figure this out. Can you do whatever it is that you did again?"

Imp closed her eyes and I could feel her focus, a strange sense of subjective clarity that seemed to emanate from her. And yes, the sensation was there too. Similar but noticeably different to her normal energy. It was further away and much less focused, but definitely there. It wavered, growing and shrinking but still nowhere near where it was.

"Calm Mind, we're in no rush." I ordered quietly.

After a few minutes of psychic probing the sensation was strong enough for me to clearly focus on but not defined enough for any more nervous puppetry.

Wanting to figure out the details of whatever this thing was, I raised a hand slowly and rested the middle phalanx of my fingers on Imp's heartpiece. The sensation jumped like a circuit being connected and I only just avoided jerking my hand away.

I suppose I should've figured it out sooner, Imp was a psychic type after all. Her consciousness wasn't limited to the inside of her head like everyone else. This apparently meant that with the proper connection, e.g. contact with her psychic implement, she could...

Well, 'mind-control' seemed like a somewhat contrived term for what she was doing. Maybe 'nervous suggestion'? 'Autonomic pulse'? Whatever it was, she was currently moving my other hand around with the utterly alien compulsion that was apparently her mind. I could resist it if I tried to, but if I didn't...

I watched my own limb move around, turning, twisting, flexing. It was freaky, but it was also _really really cool._

Even so, my stomach for possession only lasted me about ten seconds.

"Oooookay." I pulled my hand away. "So Minnow just got the rule talk, it looks like you need one too. No puppetry psychic stuff without my permission, okay? Especially on anyone other than me."

She hummed her vague, but affirmative response.

"Seriously though, this is as cool as it is freaky. We'll practice with this but if we get chased out of Mauville with torches and pitchforks I'm going to assume it's your fault. Speaking of which we can practice on the road, let's go."

And so our slow trek continued. We got back to the trail fork and went up the path that lead to Mauville. I trained with Imp when she was awake and contemplated the universe when she slept. Certain things _in_ the universe to be more precise. In fact my thoughts seemed to keep circling one thing in particular.

May.

It had been almost a full month since I'd left, she might get mad if she saw me again but there was no way she hadn't cooled off by now. That said I still hadn't the faintest idea of what to say when I saw her again. She was a jealous person, I didn't like thinking bad things about people but if I was going to get anywhere I needed to acknowledge that people are flawed and recognize those flaws for what they are.

A fact that raised more questions. Would she be jealous of me going on an expedition? With my team as concrete evidence, our collective growth was impossible to ignore. Or maybe I'd just be the one thing wrong with what had been an obviously happy life.

I leaned back on Minnow and sighed, careful not to squish Imp. This whole expedition had been one of if not the best time of my life. I had money, a team, and more freedom than I knew what to do with. I was doing something worthwhile. And all that on top of waking up every morning under the sky with my team around me?

I never wanted to do anything else.

It was such a shame then that this had all started on such a low note.

I shook my head, no point in brooding. I was getting close to the Mauville Bridges so I brought Minnow to a stop and put him back in his ball before heading the rest of the way to the small building at the base of the bridge. It looked like some kind of cross between a checkpoint and DMV, seeing the inside only reinforced my comparison.

There was a pair of cyclists talking to the lone overworked attendant, I contemplated brushing Mutt to pass the time but there wasn't much of a waiting area so hopefully it wouldn't take too long.

The thought had barely left my head before the cyclists moved the rest of the way down the desk and out the other door. The attendant waved me over with a mechanical motion.

"You have a bike?" She asked tiredly.

"No." I responded automatically.

"M'fraid I can't let you onto the bike path then. With the Mauville Triathlon just around the corner we're not supposed to let pedestrians up onto the bridge." She explained, sounding more like a tired recorder than a person. "You can use the ground path. Supposed to only be for pokémon but there's only one ferry and it's booked out." My next question died in my throat.

I was left standing there, just absorbing the information.

"Okay then. Thank you." I said for lack of anything else before leaving out the door I'd come in through.

I just stood outside the door for a minute.

"Guess we're taking the ground path then." I muttered to myself, turning to get a better look at the structure in question.

The structure looked like nothing quite as much as a fifty foot wide strip of forest that emerged from the shoreline and vanished into the distance. If I focused I could _maybe_ make out the other side of the bay, it was hard to tell though.

 _Well, no time like the present._

Interestingly enough, the pokémon on the ground path were not the same as the ones in the neighboring forest. So between the extra unexpected data and the fact that there was no discernable path meant I was moving much slower than I wanted to.

A part of me was tempted to let Minnow out and just swim the rest of the way, the rest of me liked maintaining a sub-saturated state of being.

Straightening my hat, I resumed my trudging. Just in time to come to a relative clearing.

I had a habit of only vaguely paying attention to what I was looking at whenever I was hiking, which is why it took me so long to register what the person sitting by the water was doing.

He was wearing a loose navy blue shirt and pants and had taken his shoes off. There was also an abra curled up at his side asleep. The last thing I noticed was the pokéball in front of him.

Levitating.

A pale green glow was wrapped around the ball and held it in the air, apparently originating from the trainer given the look of concentration on his face.

As I entered the clearing, the ball slowly drifted down until it sat in his lap. Once the glow faded, he opened his eyes and glanced at me.

"Can I help you?" He sounded vaguely annoyed. I realized I'd been staring.

"Oh, sorry. I've just never..." _Seen anything remotely like that done by a human before._

He smirked. "Not to come across as smug but few people have." He looked at me before running an eye past my team, not missing the lone ball on my belt. "Trainer?"

"Yeah." I simply responded, frantically trying to phrase my request better than _'That was awesome teach me.'_

He nudged the curled abra which sat up silently, a second later Imp abruptly woke up with a startled hum.

I was no psychic, which apparently _was_ a thing you could be, but I could tell that he and/or his abra were doing something.

"Imp?" I left the question open for her to respond. She only stood inside my pack and peered around my head to look back at the other pair.

There was an interaction, I could tell that much.

The abra looked back up at its trainer and gave a minute twitch of its tail. The unnamed trainer chuckled and gave the gold furred pokémon a scratch behind the ears.

"Well, Manji likes you. And that's more than I can say about most folk." He stood and brushed himself off. "I also don't need to be psychic to tell you have some questions."

He was correct.

"What... was that?"

"That was the result of spending most of my life alongside Manji here. I don't know the details, but you develop a sense for things like this. Makes you more... let's say perceptive. Aware, maybe." The abra whapped him with its tail. "And more susceptible, I was getting to that you impatient little monkey." He tousled the passive pokémon with obvious fondness.

 _Susceptible to psychic types? Jee that doesn't sound at all familiar, does it Imp?_ I thought pointedly towards my rider.

She jabbed me in the back of my head but didn't look away from the other two.

I juggled my options for a second before deciding to continue. "I _think_ I at least understand the susceptibility part of that. Could you..."

"Teach you the other half? Probably not without a few years of work, but I see no harm in trying. At the very least, you should pick up enough to learn more on your own."

(May)

The sand whipped across me for the thousandth time, almost knocking me off balance. I had initially thought the desert would be a good training ground for unusually harsh conditions, but the damn wind and sand meant that _I_ could barely see straight. I was glad I'd bought a sand jacket and goggles too because this would have been unmanageable otherwise.

What was worse was that the whole desert had looked like maybe a half-day of distance on my pokénav. I'd set foot on this section of route 111 three days ago now. Though even as spotty as the GPS was in this geographical nightmare, I was close enough to the other side that I should be able to make it to the edge of Chimney Desert if I kept my head down and pushed through.

I had to stop when I heard yet another wobbling sound start pulsing from the sand in front of me.

"Oh for the love of- Marshtomp." I held off my tirade. Wasting time complaining had already fainted two of my team.

The wobbling grew louder and faster, I waited for it to reach _just_ the right pitch before...

"Water Gun!"

The liquid jet launched forward just in time to impact the baltoy as it erupted from the ground. The psychic toppled over with a startled clicking before going silent.

I breathed a sigh of relief-

A crackling sound like sap in a campfire wrenched me from my thoughts. "Marshtomp, get bac-"

There was rapid burst of flashes from where the psychic lay before an explosion tore its way through the sandstorm. I threw myself to the ground to avoid the worst, but I could feel the heat wash over me with the faintest smell of burning hair.

When I got back up, Marshtomp was in the sand. There were burns covering his front and he was _very_ unconscious. As was the _piece of shit_ baltoy.

I gave it a kick for good measure before recalling my pokémon.

My three best were all out of the fight until I could get them to a pokécenter. That left me with just Linoone and Slugma until I could get out of this Arceus forsaken dust pit. It wasn't really much of a choice, Slugma was literally the slowest pokémon on record and I wanted out of here.

I pulled the fifth ball off of my belt and let the normal type out. He cringed from the sandy gale.

"Yeah, I know the weather sucks. Follow my lead and we can both get out of this sooner." I trudged past her.

Linoone hesitated for a second before following with a quiet snuff.

(Wallace)

The lesson had been interesting. His initial claim that it had taken years to get as far as actually levitating anything was a little disheartening, but the whole possession thing apparently marked the halfway point. I chalked it up to Imp and I rarely being more than a dozen feet apart and her evolving.

Apparently I was just supposed to reverse the process of being possessed until I could use Imp's psychic abilities. He didn't need to stress that this required _absolute_ trust between both parties. And seeing how Imp had been repeatedly trying to make me feed her extra pokéblocks when I wasn't paying attention, that might not happen for a little longer.

I would trust Imp with my life. It's my wallet I'm more concerned about.

After our impromptu lesson had come to an end I continued on my quest.

I only just managed to make it to the end of the ground path before evening turned well and truly into night. It didn't really matter much though since I needed to spend an entire day after that finishing my cataloguing and fishing the shoreline.

Thankfully, it was a short hike from the bridges to Mauville City, and even with all the construction going on around New Mauville I made it there by midmorning.

And if anyone asked why I hadn't made the trek yesterday afternoon it would have nothing to do with my dislike of large cities and my regular attempts to avoid them.

Stomaching my dislike, I set foot in through the gate and got my first good look at the place. It had a similar feel to Slateport, just a little more modern and without the omnipresent smell of salt water and fish. It was also a good deal smaller if the map I had of it was any indication.

And best of all, I had basically no reason to stay here. I should stop by the pokémart to restock and I wanted to stick my head in the bike shop, but after that I could be on my way.

The market was somewhat crowded, enough so that I had my team wait outside. Only twenty minutes later I was done and following my pokénav to the bike shop.

I was a little surprised when I got there. It was a surprisingly small store, even smaller than the run-of-the-mill market I'd just come from.

' _Rydel's Cycles', looks like the right place._

There were also several stands outside with what looked like bargain deals, and while my spacial reasoning left something to be desired I was fairly certain there were too many bikes to actually fit inside the store. My best guess was that Rydel was trying to capitalize on the triathlon, and if I was lucky I could take advantage of that in turn.

Pushing open the door revealed a mere one line of bicycles leaning against one of the walls. The rest of the shop was filled with stands covered in the hundreds of other bits and pieces that went with cycling. A lone attendant who I took to be Rydel looked up from the counter as I walked in.

"Hey there! You looking for a bike?" He asked cheerfully.

"As I do not have a bicycle and this is a bicycle shop, yes." I answered dryly with a smile.

"Well, that solves the why, where, and who of your problem. That just leaves what and when. Did you have any kind of cycle in mind?"

I cringed internally, my knowledge about bicycles included how to ride them and that was about it. So I started throwing information at the wall to see what would stick.

"I'm not actually here for the triathlon. I'm on an expedition so I'll be on the road a lot. A collapser would be nice too."

"You're on an expedition? I'd have never guessed." He mirrored my dry tone and glanced at my team. "You from Slateport I take it?"

"Littleroot actually, for Professor Birch. It's been about a month since I started." I corrected.

"You got all the way here from Littleroot? That can't have been a small trek. Though with shoes that dirty I'd believe it..." He glanced at the bikes leaned against the wall with a contemplative look.

"Y'know, I just had a thought. How much of your expedition do you have left?" He asked, scratching his chin.

"I've been over most of southwest Hoenn by now. I've been to Oldale, Petalburg, Rustboro, Dewford, and Slateport. Still need to cover all the towns around Mt. Chimney and eastern Hoenn as well. Why?"

"I only opened up shop recently, so I've got a business proposition for you. I'll give you a bike for free, all maintenance included, if you ride it around and tell people about this here establishment of mine." He looked me in the eyes.

I just stared back, dumbfounded. "Well, on a scale of no to yes... Where do I sign?"

He grinned. "That's what I hoped you'd say. First things first, though. Let's figure out which bike'll do you best."

It was a pleasantly short process where he simply narrowed down the selection as I listed my specifications.

The choice brought me down to two well rounded mountain bikes, one was better for tight maneuvering, the other for open roads. It was a good question, but I tended to move pretty slowly on my own and if I _really_ needed to get somewhere I would have Imp teleport me.

"I'll take the Acro." I decided.

"Good choice, I'll get it written up. Should only take a moment." He took the bike behind the counter and started typing at the computer. I wandered through the other side of the shop to see if I found anything that looked helpful.

I had just decided on a field tire patch kit when I heard the bell at the door ring. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a very tired looking girl in what looked like a heavy poncho-

May.

May had just walked into the bike shop.

She was also staring at me with her hood halfway down.

There was an extremely heavy silence while my brain short-circuited.

' _She's... doing field work.'_

 _Field work my hind foot._ I suddenly understood why the professor had been so tight lipped. I didn't really _agree_ but I understood. Which still left me with something of a problem.

Said problem had just put on a very _very_ hard face. I could almost feel the anger lighting up like dry tinder.

"Hello Wallace." She said mechanically.

 _Why the hell are you getting snappy at me? I literally packed up and left so you could be happy you ungrateful-_

I forced the anger down. "Hey May, it's been a while."

She just nodded and _walked right past me._

All I could do was stare, the burning sensation in my gut only getting worse by the second. I stomached the sensation again and made myself wait while she talked with Rydel and he finished my transaction.

He stepped out from behind the desk and wheeled my bike over, not inconspicuously shooting a glance between May and I.

"You two know each other?" He asked quietly.

I didn't trust my voice to hide the lingering anger so I only nodded. Then I realized I hadn't actually thanked him yet.

"Yes, we just... really need to talk. Thank you for the bike." I turned to May who was pretending I didn't exist. "May, we really do need to figure this out. I'll meet you by the east gate when we're done here."

Then I deliberately turned away. If May wanted to argue she'd have to do it in front of the shopkeep, which I was gambling she she wouldn't do before she bought a bike.

I made it out of the store in silence. So I started walking towards the east gate of Mauville City.

It took about ten seconds for me to realize I was breathing hard and my heart was pounding. I stopped and sat down on the ground as my brain finally caught up to me.

Why had I just gotten so _angry_? The last time I'd seen May I'd been a bit sad, and the whole thing was certainly unfair, but...

It had taken physical effort not to shout at her. Something pinged in the back of my mind.

" _Makes you more... let's say perceptive. Aware, maybe. And more susceptible."_

The dots connected. Imp's empathy, our link, _May's anger._

No, I didn't just get to blame this all on her. Some of it was certainly hers but the thoughts had been mine.

I sighed. This was going to be a difficult conversation. So I did my best to think out my approach ahead of time.

I didn't have as long as I'd hoped. I could track May's approach like a smoldering radar a few short minutes later.

"So what did you want to talk about?" She asked shortly as I looked up. I didn't miss that she had one of her pokémon out. A warm palette bird that looked surprisingly ground bound for something with feathers. Probably an evolution of her torchic.

"You know what I want to talk about May. You've-"

"Is this because Professor Birch let me go on my own expedition?"

Her question caught me off balance. "What? No. May I don't care about that." I lied, I _did_ care, but more about Birch hiding it than May going on one herself. I forced the surging anger down again. "You're smart enough to know why I left May. So why are you still mad at me? I have bent over backwards as far as I can. What would you have me do?"

I wasn't sure if it was because I was holding my own anger down or if May was getting control over her own temper but she seemed to be holding it together fairly well.

That is not to say that she wasn't angry.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and grit her teeth, but her voice stayed remarkably even. "That's not- Wallace, do you have any idea what it's like to spend your whole life doing something, just to watch someone else do it better? How _frustrating_ it is? No training, no experience, no problem! Everything I'd done was just… trivial."

"Yes. I do." I said carefully. "My dad is the fourth highest rank gym leader on the continent. I've been training my team, yes, but for self-defense only. Period. I have no intention of taking the league challenge, of becoming the strongest trainer in the world. The only reason I took on gym challenges was to keep funded. I'm ashamed to admit that but it's true. I just want to travel with my team and do research with Birch. I _might_ be the better field agent, in terms of sheer data points collected, but I have no doubts you're the better trainer."

There was a moment of quiet where I dared to hope I had gotten through to her. I could still feel some leftover anger, but...

Oh no.

A look passed over her face and her stance shifted. A look and stance I'd become all too familiar with recently.

"Prove it."

She wanted to battle.

"May-"

"Prove you meant that. Then I'll believe you."

I'd never felt as conflicted in my whole life. But there really was no choice involved.

I sighed. "Imp. Show time."

The fight with Roxanne had been close. The fight in Granite cave had been hard.

My fight with May had been painful.

Imp had gone through Combusken and Linoone before getting beaten down by Grovyle. Mutt and Grovyle proved to be almost perfectly even. Sylph was taken out by a perfect shot from Marshtomp, who battled Marble to a draw.

She had been brought down to her Slugma. And I to Minnow.

She didn't know about Minnow. She was going to lose.

We stood across from each other, opposite the upturned, scorched patch of earth we'd been battling on. Her fire type sizzled like magma, waiting for an order. She caught my hesitation.

"I see the ball on your belt Wallace, I know you're not done."

"May, please. You've made your point."

Her expression disagreed. _'Not yet I haven't'_

I held her gaze, trying as hard as I could to will her down. I predictably failed.

I pulled Minnow's ball from my belt as my mind raced. Was there a way I could throw the fight convincingly? Would she take a forfeit? Would I lose anyways?

The gyarados came into being before the slugma like a tidal wave before a camp fire.

No on all accounts.

She just stood there, shock slipping through her mask. Then her face contorted itself back to neutrality.

"Slugma, rock throw." The slug sizzled and fired a few burning stones from its back like blistered projectiles. The pinged off of Minnows scales, failing to leave any visible marks.

 _God dammit May. Why are you forcing my hand like this?_

"Minnow, Dragon Rage."

The fight ended in a wash of dark flames.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Just a heads up, May's not going to be around for awhile. She'll show back up later in the story, but not for another few chapters at least.

Also, pretty much all of this chapter was unintentional. I meant to get all the way to Mt. Chimney but I just made people talk a lot. It'll happen next chapter though, I promise.

Chapter 7: People Problems

I almost wished May had screamed at me. Maybe if she'd gotten to use her fists again she could vent properly.

Silently recalling her last pokémon and walking away? That wasn't venting.

That was festering. Festering I could do nothing about.

 _That wasn't literally the worst that could have possibly gone, but it might be close enough to it to not to matter. Guess we can bury an chance of an honest friendship now._ _Oh, and even though we technically won she still fainted everyone but Minnow, so now you'll have to capture everyone regardless._

I felt thoroughly like garbage as I put everyone of my unconscious team inside their individual pokéballs. Then I looked up and realized there was a good three dozen people staring at me.

 _In the defense of crowd mentality, you had Minnow use Dragon Rage less than a hundred feet from city limits._

I berated myself internally while trying and failing to think of a casual way to leave. I had narrowed my selection down to sprinting in a random direction, teleporting, or sinking into the ground when someone broke off from the crowd.

He looked like an older man, with a brown jacket, cargo pants, and a... round build. He was effectively bald on top with only some spiky white hair around the edges of his head connecting with a well trimmed beard of the same color, giving him a very friendly grandfatherly look. I recognized him from a sign at the New Mauville construction site.

 _Gym Leader Wattson, great._

"Have to admit lad, I've never seen someone look so dejected about winning a battle. Let alone one so intense." He said in a perfectly friendly tone.

' _Wow, you managed something really impressive and managed to make it suck anyways, good job.'_

I gave a dry laugh. "Actions speak louder than words, sir. And I just proved mine were in disagreement." I responded. I was not feeling up to failing another Diplomacy check, so I wanted to end this conversation quickly.

"I can see where they might." He eyed the aftermath of our battle. "Anyway, it looks like both of you took quite the thrashing. Let's get you to the center then." He took my arm with a sturdy grip and started walking me through the crowd as it parted for him.

I could tell that having someone get me out of there without fuss was a feat I wouldn't have been able to engineer on my own, and I appreciated it. That did not however mean I _wanted_ to go with this man, as there were better than even odds I'd run into May at the Center. Unfortunately, it wasn't far and he somehow boxed me out from walking away without actually cutting me off.

We arrived at the center together. May was nowhere to be seen.

"Come on then, lad. Let's get your team patched up."

I followed the idiotproof process that all pokécenters used and sat in one of the waiting chairs while the nurses and machines did their work. To my dismay and utter lack of surprise, Wattson sat down next to me.

"Lad, I can tell this is bothering you more than you'd admit. No one can help you if you don't tell anyone what's wrong." He said in a more serious voice.

What I wanted to do was tell him to mind his own business. What I did was become acutely aware of how much good Mrs. Aka had done for Minnow and how badly my team had been hurt by my word choice.

 _Shoot, it's not like your relationship with May can possibly get worse. You might as well tell him._

I sighed and rubbed my face.

"I probably shouldn't tell you since I only met you a few minutes ago. But I'm going to anyways because I'm a moron and have no idea how to make this right. So. I moved to Littleroot about a month and a half ago..."

I sat there and laid out the story, pausing only to retrieve my team and let them back out before continuing. Recounting the whole thing just made me realize how very poorly I'd managed _anything_ within a fifty foot radius of May.

"And, well, you saw how the battle ended. So... yeah." I continued to brush Mutt, despite his fur already being perfectly groomed by now; I just needed something to do with my hands.

He had been quiet for the duration of my story, only asking a few clarifying questions and otherwise just letting me talk.

There was a quiet moment where Mutt let out a contented sigh. I couldn't help the smile that quirked the edge of my face.

"I think I can see your problem." Wattson finally said, stroking his beard.

"With all due respect, it's hard to miss."

He laughed at that, a sound surprisingly like a drum. "I suppose so. Well lad, lady troubles are often the hardest to fix." I tried very hard to pretend I didn't sputter at that. "But nothing that breaks can't be fixed. Do yourself a favor and remember that.

"Give her some time to cool off and even if you don't know what you did wrong, apologize, and mean it. I'd also advise against battling her again if you can avoid it. And above all else, stick with it lad. Life's too short to live it looking over your shoulder for enemies."

I digested that. It sounded more like marital advice than anything else, but I wasn't going to look a gift rapidash in the mouth.

"Alright, thank you sir." I said tiredly.

"Please, call me Wattson. 'Sir' makes me sound old."

I gave him a look out of the corner of my eye, his poker face was breached only by a tiny smirk.

"Uh huh."

"Hmm? Got something you want to say?"

"Me? No, I think I'm quite alright." I felt myself smiling despite the events earlier this morning.

We both chuckled for a moment. Mutt groused at me for not brushing, so I resumed my duties of making him the prettiest boy in the world.

"There's also something else I wanted to talk with you about Wallace. The original reason I went to see why someone loosed a gyarados right outside the city. Aside potential property damage that is."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, as you might have picked up I hadn't really planned that far ahead. Sorry about that."

"Don't sweat it lad, it's outside the city so I get to be glad that it's not my job to deal with the aftermath. I was actually just wondering if you were interested on stopping by the gym later."

I wanted to say no. After thinking about it for a little longer, I still wanted to say no. My team was not typed well for an electric gym.

 _But he just gave me a pep talk that I kind of_ needed. _I'd have been beating myself up for the foreseeable future otherwise, not that I won't be, just less vindictively now. I do kind of owe it to him. Even if I don't battle he deserves a visit._

"I don't mean to pressure you into it, lad. Just drop by if you have the time. And speaking of the gym, I should be getting back. Oh, here's my nav number by the way if you need any more of this young buck's advice."

We exchanged numbers and he made his way out, whistling a tune. I looked back at my team.

I'd gotten a bike, discovered May was on an expedition, had what could loosely be described as a conversation with May, beaten May in a battle against my own will, registered the entirety of my team, made friends with a gym leader, and internally promised to go to the Mauville Gym.

It wasn't even noon yet.

 _I hate Mondays._

I intended to go to the gym to at least thank Wattson again, but at the moment I wanted to do nothing more than spend the rest of the day hiding under a rock. A feeling that wasn't helped by the looks I was getting from the other people in the pokécenter. Looks like rumors travelled fast in this town.

 _I'll make good on my promise. Just not today._

If I'd read the postings on the Nav Network correctly Rusturf Tunnel was nearing completion, so if I went west to Verdanturf and through the tunnel it should give me enough time to cycle out of the rumor mill here while I covered routes 116 and 117.

With no real reason to wait, I got up and started walking.

There was really only one word to describe route 117, and that would be 'picturesque'. It sloped gently past small tranquil ponds, the occasional meadow adding a pleasant but not garish amount of color, and with a breeder having set up shop, you could hardly go ten feet without finding another adorable baby pokémon.

All of my stops were strictly for research purposes of course. Except maybe the lone picture I snapped of a trio of baby mankies climbing around on Minnow's head, but I doubted I'd need to excuse that.

 _Never would've thought Minnow would be good with kids._ I thought, watching him sigh patiently at the tiny creatures hanging from his face chattering to each other.

Actually collecting data, not that I hadn't been, was a literal walk in the park. There was apparently something of a taboo about training pokémon around this area so the local fauna were wholly unconcerned by my scanning.

Of course this meant I got all the way to Verdanturf by the time night was falling. The curses of nice territory being so easy to get through.

It was worth it though, just to see Verdanturf in evening colors. The whole town looked like someone had sprinkled wildflowers over all the houses, roofs included. The road dwindled all the way down to a branched cobblestone path connecting all of the buildings, grass and moss filling the gaps like fuzzy green concrete. The orange overcast of evening gave the town a peaceful feeling that made me want to just curl up on the ground and go to sleep until the world woke me up.

I'm glad I moved to Hoenn.

The town itself wasn't very big, but it boasted some proportionally impressive accommodations for tourists. Mauville might be where the Hoenn Triathlon would start and finish, but Verdanturf would be where most of the travelling spectators would stay - and while most of the racers had already arrived the crowd wasn't due for another couple days yet.

It was a fairly simple process to rent a room for the night and unceremoniously dump my stuff on the floor. Part of me wanted to stay up a little longer and explore the town. The rest of me was too emotionally drained from this morning to properly care. But even though today had been stressful, but it could have ended a whole lot worse.

I flopped onto the bed and let darkness take me.

I had no memory of moving during the night, thus I had no earthly idea of how I ended up on the floor in a pile with my team.

Whatever, there were certainly worse ways to wake up. After a detour to the breakfast bar, I was on the road again.

Briefly, since Rusturf Tunnel was supposed to be done by now and it _wasn't_. I had only glanced at the notices on the nav network, so I hadn't picked up on the fact that the problem of the indigenous pokémon actually hadn't been solved. The estimated time of completion was based off of one overworked man who was going at the stone with a _pick._

I discovered this from the pick wielder himself.

"I'm sorry, but this rock is hard stuff and I can't be too loud. It's going to be another few days at least." He explained between pants.

I _could_ just teleport to the other side, I'd already been there with the Team Aqua grunt all those weeks ago. But that didn't sit well with me on multiple accounts.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I offered.

He seemed genuinely surprised by the offer. "Really? Well if you're serious I have a few tutor machines that'd certainly help if that's fine with you. I don't have any pokémon of my own so..."

I looked at my team. "What do you guys think?"

Despite their wildly varying body types, they managed to give an almost simultaneous assortment of shrugs. I turned back to the overworked miner.

"Sounds good to me."

"Wonderful! If you'll excuse me then I'll go grab them. I might be a minute, I wasn't expecting to need them." He wobbled his way back down the tunnel.

I spent the time by baiting a few of the braver whismurs close enough to scan and trying to get a feel for how much rock still needed to be removed. I was by no means a geologist, but given the sounds it felt like there was only a couple more feet of rock to go through.

I was in the process of telling Sylph that he was a very handsome bat when the miner came back.

"I've got a couple that ought to help, take a look." He passed me several small plastic cases with names scribbled on the covers.

 _Rock Smash, Strength, Dig, Brick Break, and Cut. I don't see Cut being very helpful and -_ I flitted through my pokédex - _no one in my team can learn Brick Break._

"I actually have my own copy of Dig, so if you don't want to use yours-"

"Eh, they've just been collecting dust. I'd be glad to actually find some use for 'em." He shrugged.

"Okay then." I took the three relevant disks from his hand. _So who would be the best candidates? Mutt seems like a sensible choice for Dig, but that's not going to be helpful on its own. Same goes for Marble and Strength._

 _Even though Mutt can technically learn Rock Smash I'd rather avoid using my dog as a jackhammer. At least Marble is literally made of steel and rock._

"Alright, I'm going to need you two back in your balls to do this. It'll only be a minute." I pulled the registered devices from my pack and looked at the two quadrupeds.

Once they were back in storage I took the Dig disk out and pressed it against the equator of the device. The disk slid into place and the pokéball hummed for a long moment before ejecting the disk with the faint smell of burning plastic.

It was a shame these things only worked once. Still, now Mutt could give most ground types a run for their money in digging speed. Easily worth it.

I let him out of his ball to let him get a feel for his new knowledge as I repeated the process with Marble. At least until I opened the case.

The disks were obsidian black and visibly thicker.

"Holy... How did you get ahold of an HM for Rock Smash _and_ Strength?" I asked in quiet awe.

"A what now?" He responded intelligently.

"An HM, these don't burn out. You can use them as many times as you want. I've never seen these sold anywhere. They're literally called Hidden Machines."

"Huh. Well you can keep 'em anyways. Like I said they've been almost completely useless to me." He shrugged.

"Sir, I'm not sure you realize how valuable these are-"

"You're right, and to be honest I don't really care. I just want to get this damn tunnel finished. You help me with that, and you can consider that your payment." He said, sounding tired.

 _Well, who am I to spit on an opportunity like this?_ I ran the machines through Marble's ball.

Barely a minute later and she was smashing through the rock like a basketball sized bulldozer. She'd ram the stone, making it spiderweb with cracks; then she'd shove the larger pieces out of the way while Mutt relocated the gravel before doing it all again. It wasn't exactly quiet, but it was hardly louder than a pickaxe and a far cry from power equipment. We were moving quickly, all things considered.

I stayed nearby while I collected data. I couldn't really wander but I could still get a little bit of work done.

About an hour and a half later, Marble crashed into the wall yet again just to go charging all the way through it. The startled shriek from the other side also informed us that there was someone working on the other end as well.

Five more minutes of work had the tunnel well and truly open. The miner barely waited for Marble to finish pushing one last piece of rubble out of the way before running through the opening. Peering through behind him revealed why.

He was hugging a woman about the same age who looked like she'd been mining on her own. Even I could tell they had been desperate to see each other as they were-

"Uhh." I said loudly, trying to remind them that there was someone else in the cave.

The woman gave a startled 'eep' and the man turned around with a sheepish look.

"Ah, right. Thanks again for helping with that. Wanda, this is-" His face went blank before facepalming. "Well don't I feel like a proper ass now? I never even asked for your name." He said, sounding ashamed.

"Don't sweat it. I'm Wallace. It's a pleasure to meet you, Wanda and..."

"Christopher. And really, thank you Wallace. If you'll excuse me I have some workers I need to talk to about letting my girlfriend dig their tunnel for them."

They departed and I was left with my team.

"Well, as much as I'd like for that to be our happy ending of the day it's not even ten yet so we have work to do."

Route 116 had a very short connecting trail to Rustboro and a much longer more circuitous trail that looped north before wandering back down to the shorter trail. So for the next few days I was going to be doing exactly what I'd been doing. Collect data.

Which proved to be almost embarrassingly easy. After spending the last couple days in a danger rank III forest, moving back to rank I really brought things into perspective. Anyone in my team could pulverize the strongest thing in this forest, and I wasn't even very good yet.

' _Yet'?_

I _had_ been getting stronger, but once my team was realistically well built I'd probably stop training... Right?

 _Okay, stop._ I forced myself to stop walking. _There's something I'm thinking about and cringing away from. What is it._

Did I want to be stronger?

 _Yes._

Why?

 _To keep my team safe._ I was leaving something out of that.

 _To keep my family safe._ Closer, but not quite there yet.

 _I want to keep everyone safe._

Did I? I'd already established to myself that I didn't like most people. But there was a gulf between not liking someone and wishing them harm. _The worst crimes most people commit are apathy and ignorance._

I was actually getting strong enough to keep people safe, to help them. The events of this morning proved that if Slateport Museum hadn't already. So now I wanted to do that. Which raised a new question in turn. _How much stronger do I need to be to do that?_

The hardest thing to protect people from is other people.

" _I have no intention of becoming the strongest trainer in the world."_ My own words echoed through my mind. I hadn't _lied._ But I was starting to think my words hadn't been as true as I'd thought them to be.

Taking the police for an example, I was already strong enough I could probably give the average cop a run for their money, and cops were capable of plenty of good like that.

But the people who _really_ made a difference? Lance the Dragonmaster, Blue the Rival, Wallace the Leviathan.

I paused. _Only just realized I have the same name as the Hoenn League Champion. Huh._

Whatever the case was, when things got _bad_ there were only a few people who were strong enough for the rest of the world to count on.

I didn't want to be the strongest person in the world. I _did_ want to stand among them though.

May wasn't going to buy that. I put my head in my hands.

How long had I been subconsciously planning? Training my team to some vague, almost infinite endpoint? I wasn't sure, but long enough that I should have caught it before now.

 _No, no moping. You get to mope_ after _you fix the problem. And then there's nothing left to mope about, so you get a twofold victory!_ The cheerful part of my brain chirped.

Fine. So what did I do about it? This old, newfound desire to be strong enough to matter was not something that could be easily appeased. Simply perhaps, but not easily.

 _Keep training._

So I would do just that. That and apologize for all I was worth next time I saw May.

But I had a forest to scan in the meantime, so I did that instead.

There was a surprising amount of diversity in this particular chunk of the map. There was the standard fare for this area of poochyenas and zigzagoons and taillows, but there was also a colony of abra and a species of bug type called nincada that I was unfamiliar with. This meant it took a good three days to get enough data for me to be confident I'd found everything, looping all the way up to the border of Meteor Falls in the process.

Which in turn meant I'd been gone long enough to warrant another visit with the professor. And it was time to have a certain conversation as well.

An exclusively mental command and a vague sense of vertigo brought me to the lab's doorstep in the late afternoon sun.

I entered. May wasn't going to be in there and the professor often worked late into the night. My guess proved correct as I heard keys clacking and quiet mutters.

"Knock knock." I announced, approaching the distracted man.

He made a profoundly feminine sound as he jerked around. I would've smiled if my mind wasn't already occupied.

"Wallace, you scared me. Sorry if you knocked, I was a little distracted. More data?"

"Yep." I passed my weathered pokédex to his open hand. "I also got done earlier this afternoon than I thought I would so I can hang around if you'd like."

"That'd be great, I don't have much else for today so we should be able to get this done before dinnertime." He spun back around and plugged my findings into the PC.

 _And there goes any excuse you have to run off._ I didn't want to be combative about this conversation, but...

"So when were you going to tell me May was on an expedition?"

I was feeling pretty combative. I could watch the color flee his extremities.

"Uh, Wallace- It's..." He'd never been good with words.

"Professor. First I need to apologize because I already know the answer to that question. If you were planning on telling me at all, it would have been the first time I saw you after she left. So you can imagine my surprise when I bumped into her in Mauville City. In my surprise I said some very stupid things, things that may ensure May and I can never be friends again. And I _do_ understand that that's mostly my fault, but I can't - and if I'm perfectly honest, don't want to - dismiss your role in that." I didn't bother disguising that I was unhappy with my sponsor.

I waited while he formulated a response. As much as I just wanted to verbally tear him to pieces for being a spineless lump, I did actually want to hear a response.

He let out a long sigh and put his face in his hands, pushing his reading glasses up his face.

"What was I supposed to say? I was just about saturated with data of the local forest when you moved here. She wasn't contributing _anything_ by the time you left. So when she asked to leave on an expedition, I could either say no and leave her useless and wondering _why_ or say yes and make it so you'd have left for nothing." He explained, sounding more sad than anything, which was surprising.

"Professor, I'm not accusing you of making the easy choice. There wasn't one. I'm angry because you kept information from me that was both relevant to my assigned task and my personal life. So as long as I'm here, is there anything else that I should know that I don't?"

"No, the only other thing that's changed since May left is that your mother and Ellen are staring daggers at each other every time they so much as pass in the street." He said resignedly.

 _Wonderful, family feuds are my favorite._

I wanted to snap at him, I wanted to blame him for the permanent damage I'd done to my relationship with May, I wanted to leave my scanner on the desk and walk away.

"Thank you for telling me Professor Birch." Was what I said. "Now, how about we work on that data?"

Things had been tense at first but we eventually fell into a vague routine that let us relax some. His initial estimate had also been right and we'd been able to get it all catalogued by the time the sun was setting. So I spent the rest of my evening introducing the new members of my crew to Mom and generally catching up on things.

This also entailed explaining my fight with May.

Mom was good at hiding her emotions, frighteningly so. As in good enough that I wouldn't have been able to tell how angry she was at the mention of May if I hadn't bonded with Imp.

"Honey, I know you mean well. But sometimes there are people you're just not cut out to be friends with." She said in a diplomatic tone. I could _feel_ the unconscious anger in her words.

"Maybe, but May and I got along perfectly for the first couple days. And if I can break something I should be able to fix it again." I pretended not to notice that Mom was trying to drive a wedge in the relationship I was desperately trying to mend.

"People are more complicated than that, they change. Forcing an issue like this will only make it worse."

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "Mom, I know you're mad at May, but this isn't a problem worth that sort of condemnation. Even if I can't be her friend again, I don't want _this much_ bad blood."

"Dear, I'm not angry-" I shot her a look and felt Imp do the same. She deflated a little. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

Those were the first words she'd spoken without an undercurrent since we'd started on our current topic.

"I know, and I realize this looks bad. But I _am_ going to try to fix this and I would rather do so with your help." I looked her in the eyes.

There was a moment of quiet.

"You're more like your father than you know." A dozen expressions flitted over her face. "Alright. I haven't seen May since she left, but maybe I can help a little on this end."

I got up and gave her a hug, becoming suddenly aware of the fact that I was taller than her.

"Thanks Mom."

I teleported back to Verdanturf next morning after an obligatory meeting with Mrs. Fructus for pokéblocks and company. It would have been faster for me to start at Mauville and head north from there, but life was to short to pass up an opportunity to visit a town like this one. I may have also stuck my head into a couple shops just to see what was what.

My best find was a small herbalist shop that sold natural medicine and the seeds to make more. It was a shame I'd only seen Mrs. Fructus that morning, they'd have made a good thank you.

I bought some seeds anyways as well as a few of the stronger medicines. They tasted awful by all accounts, but nausea was better than pain.

I was just about ready to set off again when I heard a familiar voice. It was so out of place that it took me several seconds to place it.

"Uncle, come on! We've gotten a lot better and this is the friendliest route on the continent! We'll be fine!"

 _Wally?_ I glanced back from the gate, trying to pick the timid boy out of the usual group of waiting people.

"I just don't see why you want to go so badly. You went to watch the triathlon last year." An older voice that I labeled as Wally's uncle responded.

"And it was great! I know you and mom can't take time off work but I can go on my own. I saved up the money for this and everything!"

I finally picked out his location, partially through the feeling of desperation that was wafting from him like smoke from a fire. I started to make my approach, feeling bad about eavesdropping.

"Wally, please. I know you're excited but the city can be dangerous on your own. Are you sure you can't just wait another year?"

"Excuse me." I made my presence known before Wally could respond. They both looked up at me with differing expressions.

Wally saw an opportunity and pounced on it.

"Wallace! Are you headed to Mauville?" He asked, his enthusiasm hitting me like an emotional pillow. Imp gave a startled hum.

"Yeah, I just heard you talking about it and was wondering if there was anything I could do to help. It sounded like a disagreement."

"Wait, Wallace? Are you the same person who helped Wally catch Orsus?" The man asked.

I nodded. He looked me up and down, I could tell he was surprised.

"Well you have my and Wally's thanks for that. Where are your parents? I didn't know Norman had business in Verdanturf."

"He doesn't, I'm on an expedition and needed to get back to Route 116. I just finished there so I'm on my way back to Mauville." I explained. "And if it would help things I can stick with Wally on the way there at least."

He looked skeptical, looking me over for some inconsistency to call me out on. I opted for the direct approach.

"Here." I rummaged through my bag and pulled out my badge case. "I've completed the gym challenges for Rustboro and Dewford and I can teleport Wally back once I need to leave Mauville."

Recognizing that I'd called his silent bluff he sighed. "No, no, I just- Ugh. I'm sorry, Wally's right. These roads are safe and he's old enough to be taking care of himself. I just worry." He tousled Wally's hair to his verbal displeasure. "You have my permission to watch the triathlon, with the understanding that we'll _both_ deal with your mother when you get back. Just keep your nav charged and call if you need anything. Be careful and have fun."

"Thanks Uncle!" Wally hugged him with a grin before physically dragging me out of the gate. "Come on Wallace!"

I gave a clumsy wave to the man before moving with the enthusiastic trainer. It would be nice to have some human company on the road for once.

Wally and I were not similar people, but we still found plenty to talk about. And 'plenty' I mean 'pokémon'. Orsus hadn't evolved, which made sense because Wally wasn't on an expedition and had little reason to train. He had also befriended an oddish by the name of Allium.

I wasn't fluent in Latin by even the widest stretch, but I could almost swear...

"You named your oddish 'Onion'?" I asked.

"The same genus as onions, but... yes." He answered sheepishly.

"I like it." I nodded my approval. Allium was currently sitting on Minnow's head and looked vaguely like a tiny tuft of green hair. It was adorable.

"Anyways, it looks like your team has grown a lot too." He said from Minnow's back. I was letting him ride while I biked along next to him.

"You could say that. I didn't plan for a single one of these hooligans to join me here they are anyways. Sounds like the same could be said for you too."

"I guess so. It's so cool you you're taking the League Challenge! Are you going to be fighting Wattson?" He excitedly changed the subject.

"Uh... I'm not." I answered slowly.

"Aww, I was kind of hoping to watch you take on Wattson."

"No, I mean I'm not taking the League Challenge. I fought Roxanne and Brawly because of circumstance more than anything else. I _did_ promise to drop by the gym but I still haven't actually made my mind up just yet." I explained.

"Oh, sorry. I just thought... Sorry."

 _Shoot, this looks like old Wally, and old Wally was sad Wally. Quick, Charisma! I chose you!_

"Don't be, that wasn't nearly as stupid as anything I said yesterday."

 _... Dammit me._

"I phrased that poorly. Look, I had a conversation with Wattson yesterday and he seemed like a nice guy. I can introduce him to you if you'd like." I tried to change the focus.

"You'd do that? That'd be so cool!"

We kept chatting back and forth, making several stops to observe the breeders working with the younger pokémon.

It was about noon when we got back to the Mauville gates. The streets were visibly more crowded and the signs and decorations were starting to take over the unused flat surfaces. I'd rationally known that the triathlon was in effect Hoenn's biggest festival, but if it was more than a week out and there were _this many_ people...

I was glad I would be travelling.

I led Wally to the gym first thing; I didn't want to be in a city this crowded longer than I needed to. The first thing I noticed when I walked through the doors was the sound, an angry metallic buzzing that came in fits and bursts making it too loud to think. The second thing I noticed was the sight, enormous tesla towers forming walls of crawling electricity like energetic fence posts. The last was the smell, ozone hitting my sinuses like a particularly vindictive bite of cold air that was actually a bit warm.

It took me a couple seconds to adjust. Once I did, I made my way to the receptionist and tore my eyes away from the technological display.

"Hello, is there any chance Wattson is around?"

"I'd give it a pretty good chance." And old, male voice said from behind me.

The automatic doors slid shut behind him as he walked towards me.

"Hello Wattson, I wanted to drop by and say thank you again for the talk yesterday. I also wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine." I gestured to Wally, who was being a picture perfect nervous fan at the moment. "Wattson, Wally. Wally, Wattson."

 _Wally, Wattson, and Wallace. I wonder if there's a joke in there somewhere._

Wally was only a couple inches shorter, but he managed to look like a child next to Wattson all the same.

"Y'here for the triathlon I take it?" He asked, using his default grandfatherly tone.

"Y-yes sir." Wally somehow appeared to stand shorter than Mutt.

"Glad to hear it, which brings me to our next order of business. Got anywhere else you need to be, Wallace?"

 _Time to decide I guess. On the upside it'll be good training and I'm probably going to take this challenge someday anyways with my new life goal. It'll also mean I get to give Wally the show he'd been anticipating. On the other hand only three members of my team stand much of a chance here and even if I win, which is a not insignificant 'if' on its own, this is going to hurt. Guess it comes down to the same question as usual._

"What do you guys think?" I was planning on leaving Minnow and Sylph out of this if I could manage, but the other three...

Imp shrugged, to my utter lack of surprise. Mutt continued to pant up at me. Marble though made a worried pinging sound that I almost couldn't hear over the noise.

I knelt down next to the little dual type. "That's why I asked girl, you can sit this one out if you'd like."

She nudged my leg and made a sound of confirmation.

 _So that brings me down to Imp and Mutt. Mutt learning Dig might carry most of the fight, but I don't want to put too much on that. Though Minnow and Sylph both have experience against electric types, not gym level ones, but..._

I could do this.

"Nope, so if you're still up for a challenge-"

"Fantastic! Why don't you come with lad? These battles never seem to get appreciated enough." He added to Wally, walking further into the gym.

"Wait, am I not doing the rest of the challenge?" I asked as he opened a path through the towers.

"Lad if what I saw yesterday was any indication at all you'd have no trouble with the rest of my trainers. Since we're both busy people I figured it'd be fine with you if we just cut to the chase." He explained.

I digested that for a moment. Who was I to say no? It would save my team potential pain and save both of us time. So I followed behind him as Wally followed me.

We came to a standard arena, a little bit of every terrain to give every type even footing. I was grateful because Dig required actual dirt to work properly.

"Let's get this show started, shall we?" Wattson pulled a ball from his pocket and released his first fighter, a voltorb.

I responded in kind.

Imp had taken care of the voltorb quite handily, teleporting to keep out of its surprisingly short range and wearing it down. The elektrike that had followed had been too quick for that to work and forced a draw. I put Mutt against his magneton and was rewarded for teaching him Dig when he managed to drag his opponent completely underground.

The manectric did not go quite as easily. Mutt burst out of the ground like a furry land-shark and got his jaws around its leg just in time to take a full static discharge to the face.

Something to note about electric types, they could build some pretty impressive charges. Mutt was knocked out on the spot. I pulled air between my teeth and recalled him to his ball, berating myself in the process.

 _Of course Wattson wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. This puts me in a tricky spot, Mutt, Marble, and Imp are all out. His manectric already took a hit, but I'm not sure that's enough for Sylph to finish him off before a counterattack, even if he's fast enough to hit first. Guess that leaves..._

I let Minnow out, his enormous bulk filling the arena. Type advantage aside I could tell the manectric was spooked.

I'd need to be fast for this to work.

"Dragon Rage!"

"Shock Wave!"

Fire that pulled the light in blanketed the arena, contrasting with the lash of sparks that snapped into Minnow's side, making him howl in rage.

He'd fought enough electric types so often, all the first hit did was make him _mad_.

The manectric could not say the same about dragons, and Minnow was just a hair faster.

"Again!"

"Shock-" the command was drowned in dragonfire. When the attack ended the manectric was fainted.

I didn't waste time moving to heal my team. Imp was fairly battered too but she waved me off.

' _Minnow first.'_

"Do you have a healing tray here?" I asked, spraying a super potion over the spot where the first Shockwave had hit Minnow.

"I do, if you'll follow me." He led Wally and I to a side door, opening to a modestly well equipped medical bay.

I took Mutt from my belt and looked to Imp. She'd been all but fainted, but she was still conscious.

"Do you want to use the tray or medicine?" I asked, trying my best to convey what the choice meant.

She hobbled over to me and tapped her ball on my belt, drawing herself in.

"I'll take that as the former." I muttered, putting her ball in the last open slot before Wattson ran the machine.

"Suppose I should've been expecting a ground-type attack somewhere. I was expecting you to use it earlier if you had it at all, rather than waiting for magneton to show your hand."

"And I wasn't expecting your manectric to be quite that adept against underground attacks. I was hoping not to bring Minnow into the fight after all."

"Whatever the case was, it was a good battle. Catch." He tossed me a small, velvet case. "I hereby award you my badge, carry with pride, yadda yadda yadda. If you ever find yourself back in Mauville be sure and drop by.

"Now, much as I'd like to stick around I need to go do boring gym leader things. Take care." He picked up his team from the tray, gave me a pat on the shoulder, and walked away.

There was a silence before I glanced at Wally. "Well, what did you think of the battle?"

He was quiet for a moment where I let Mutt and Imp back out. "It was... really impressive." He said quietly. There wasn't a drop of his earlier enthusiasm.

"What's on your mind?" I didn't need Imp's help to see something was bothering him.

He opened his mouth for a moment before closing it again. "It's just... I'd been training with Orsus since I left Petalburg, and I thought we were getting a lot stronger too. But after seeing that..."

"Wally, I've been on an expedition for more than a month with nothing but my team as security. Even so, that was a close fight. Don't sweat it. Just keep training and you'll get there eventually."

He didn't look completely convinced, but... "Okay, I'll do that."

Route 111 was the longest single route in Hoenn, and that wasn't even accounting for much longer it took to traverse with an entire desert stuck in the middle. I wasn't really sure how to get through it without backtracking since there was a side route on the way to Lavaridge Town that led up Mt. Chimney that I would doubtlessly need to survey as well.

But I would have to figure it out later, because there was a slightly more immediate problem. That being the sudden change in geography. When Mt. Chimney had erupted some bazillion years ago it left a bunch of lava fields everywhere. Erosion led to little valleys that turned into rivers that dried up and turned into roads.

The problem with this is that there wasn't a 'off-road'. There was the road, a few trees, then the valley walls. Not a lot of room for wild pokémon. I was just starting to consider stopping and climbing the valley walls to see if there were any pokémon at _all_ when I came to a quaint little house tucked up next to a large pond.

There was also a group of people on the porch, two of whom were in the painfully bright colors the pokéfans of this region seemed to insist on branding themselves with. Fashion sense aside though, they noticed me and my entourage coming up the road before Imp could warn me.

One of the fans jumped up with far too much enthusiasm and almost sprinted over to me.

"Oh my goodness, you're the first trainer to come up this way for almost a week! Everyone else has been headed towards Mauville for the race. You must be here to take our challenge!" He said, jumping between extreme enthusiasm and exaggerated depression and back again.

"Uh-"

"I knew it! Go Ziggy!"

Apparently the Winstrate Challenge was like a miniature gym challenge, one where you just kind of had to hold your ground as they emotionally threw themselves at you before pretending nothing had happened.

I was in the process of distributing medicine while keeping an eye on the family on the porch. They were doing the same for their own pokémon and talking happily, like this kind of thing happened on a regular basis.

Part of me wanted to quietly slip away before I could get lassoed into anything else, but I couldn't help but notice the possible advantage of having a local family give me a primer on the native fauna.

"So, you guys live out here?"

"That we do." The old lady answered. "Why our family has lived here for the last six generations. Back when I was just a girl-"

"I'm sorry, but I just had a few questions about the local wildlife. I'm on an expedition and I'm a bit behind schedule so I was wondering if you could answer a few questions." I could almost _feel_ the rest of my day slipping through my fingers.

"I suppose I could help a little. But only if you stay with us for lunch." She said with a smile that crinkled her eyes.

 _I'm not even sure there_ is _a way to turn that down politely._

"If that includes lunch for my team, then you have a deal."

Lunch took forever, but at least I got straight answers to most of my questions.

The answers basically boiled down to 'there are no wild pokémon in this region anymore'. That wasn't strictly true, but between the normally high traffic roads through the valleys and the relatively inhospitable lava fields above them pretty much all of the native wildlife had migrated elsewhere or been caught.

I wasn't happy putting the projected ecosystem together for my field notes. Or what was left of it at least.

I eventually made it to the fork in the road that led to Mt. Chimney or Chimney Desert. The choice of which way to go was taken out of my hands when I saw the shop tucked against the desert side of the fork.

' _Closed for Business. Will reopen in '12' days.'_

The little electric display by the door beamed up at me like a particularly useless doorman.

 _Is there not a single person in a hundred miles of here who_ isn't _going to watch the stupid triathlon?_

Once I was done grumbling about regional customs, I started down the Mt. Chimney path. If I wasn't mistaken and understood my pokénav correctly, then I might be able to use the cable car to scan the top of Mt. Chimney before heading down and looping north towards Fallarbor, then come back by way of Meteor Falls and Lavaridge. By then I should've acquired the extra gear I would need for the desert.

With that loose plan in mind, I started my way up the mountain. There wasn't much of anything on the mountain slopes other than a few stray geodudes, so it was a rather boring trek to the cable car station.

Though once I got to the station, I noticed something felt... off. The lights were off and there wasn't anyone inside that I could see. The 'closed' sign hung crookedly on the door, but my pokénav said that the station was and should be open for another few hours.

 _I could've sworn I saw a car heading up earlier. Maybe they're just doing maintenance. Guess I'll just take the tunnels instead._

I walked away from the station, still feeling like I was missing something. At least it was a short walk to the tunnels that cut under the mountain, I should be able to make it to the other side before the day was out.

The cave entrance came into view with a small sign stuck next to it.

' _Fiery Path. Danger Rating III. BRING EXTRA WATER.'_

 _Jeeze, don't strain yourselves rolling out the red carpet._ I thought sardonically before hoisting my pack and marching forward.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Okay, so here's the chapter I meant to write last chapter. Time to see what Team Magma's been up to.

Chapter 8: Might and Men

The tunnel under the mountain, or the 'Fiery Path' as the map dramatically referred to it, was hot. That is not meant to be some obscure way of saying it looked cool. As dramatic as the name might have been, it was certainly accurate.

It was well over a hundred degrees near the entrance and had already climbed up to a hundred and twenty. And whoever calculated the danger rating had done a lousy job of it, between the native pokémon and the random jets of superheated steam from the glassy rock I got more than a few close calls and one fairly serious burn. It really seemed like the volcano was being _way_ more active than it was at the time of rating. I could have sworn I felt tremors on more than one occasion.

And of course the pokémon living here had to be so darn interesting. I was not going to set up camp in this infernal repurposed lava tube short of my life depending on it, but camping right outside was looking more and more likely as I continued walking.

But even finding the most fascinating creatures in the world didn't solve the problem of me actually getting to the other side before I keeled over from heat stroke. And this particular problem seemed to be getting bigger with every step. The path seemed to vary widely in width and I definitely passed a few partial cave ins.

What made me certain that these cave ins were recent was that I was looking at a complete one at the moment. The whole path just abruptly ended in an enormous pile of cracked stones that were almost shimmering with heat. I swiped the sweat off of my face as I contemplated the problem, succeeding in only dragging dust into my eyes.

I'd been keeping my team in their balls. I wouldn't really want to subject anyone to this if I could avoid it. But I was pretty sure I could feel a breeze coming from the rocks so it couldn't be too far to the other side. It _might_ have just been more steam, but the air felt cooler.

 _Well, we've made it through several feet of bedrock before. A few feet of loose stone is nothing compared to that. Besides, I have no idea how long it'll take to get through if I wait for someone else to fix this, and I'm not certain I could make it back to where I started._

I let Marble and Mutt out, both of whom immediately started panting.

"I'm sorry about this, but we need to get through this. The sooner the better for obvious reasons. Marble, Rock Smash. Mutt, Dig."

It took about fifteen minutes of work to clear enough of the rubble for me to squeeze through, whereupon I immediately put the two who had helped me back in their balls with promises of extra pokéblock and water at dinner tonight.

Thankfully there were relatively few obstacles left between me and the glorious fresh air outside. The sun had well and truly set, but there was a small campground nearby and setting out my sleeping pad was a process I could do in my sleep. Which was good, because I was basically asleep by now anyways.

After a very rudimentary dinner I chugged the rest of my canteen and let the blissfully cool earth take me.

I awoke to Mutt sniffing my face.

"Mrggl." I waved at him and tried to push him away.

The only response I got was Mutt sticking his tongue in my eye.

"Ackpht," was my equally eloquent response. I swiped the saliva from my face and readied the glare of a lifetime before I realized that Mutt was yellow.

It took me a good five seconds to realize that wasn't Mutt. I recognized it as one of the pokémon I'd passed in the tunnels yesterday. A numel or something like that.

Said numel was sniffing up at me and seemed entirely unconcerned by my reaction. As did the rest of my team for that matter.

"Really? Not one of you woke me up? What if there was a dragon? Would all of you just leave me to my fate as a tasty dragon snack?" I asked the sleeping forms around me.

Mutt flopped an ear at me and Minnow rumbled. Which, thinking about it, was probably just a snore.

I grumbled to myself for a moment before spotting the feed bag I'd used for my team last night. What was left of it at least. Between the surprisingly curious numel and an apparently ransacked food supply it wasn't hard to guess why the little yellow camel thing had followed me out here.

"Hmm. At least you _aren't_ a dragon. You're far too adorable."

The little yellow volcano stared up at me, blinking owlishly.

"Well, you failed to run away in fear despite the presence of a gyarados and you _seem_ to be okay with me." I thought aloud. "Want to tag along?"

He - I paused to scan it and check my pokédex - _She_ just blinked at me again before resuming her rummaging through my gear, likely following the scent of the pokéblocks.

"Suppose it was too much to hope you just wanted to hang out for the company." I got up and moved the pack out of her reach. "Tell you what, I'm going to hang out here for a few days. You can make up your mind when we leave. And you're going to need a name."

She looked up at me, perturbed that I had taken away the thing that smelled like food.

 _Let's see._ I eyed the smoking opening on her back, making her look vaguely like a yellow and green volcano. _Maybe... Ash?_

I was tempted. Sorely tempted.

 _As much as I want to have someone named Ash under my command, I don't want to name her just for the sake of irony; Ash is more of a guy's name anyways. What are the volcano types called? Shield, composite, and... cinder. 'Cinder'? No, too serious. What about..._

"Cindy?"

The numel turned and looked at me, cocking her head.

"Cindy it is. Let's get you some pokéblocks." I cracked open the metal case and suddenly my team was very awake. I permitted myself an exaggerated sigh before distributing the candies.

 _Six, guess my team is full now. Not even halfway through my journey yet either. Aw shucks, guess I'll just have to deal with this bunch of hooligans from now on._

Mutt swallowed his pokéblock and started sniffing Cindy before leaping back and wagging, doing the play-bow-thing he did when he had too much energy; it looked like he was trying to get her to play.

 _I think I'll manage, somehow._

Studying the pokémon that lived under Mt. Chimney was a grueling process. Interesting, but grueling. The single thing that caught my attention the most was a pokémon I initially mistook as numel's evolution. As it turned out, torkoal were entirely separate and provided an almost unprecedented example of convergent evolution. Both torkoal and numel were quadruped lithovores (rock eaters), both used a dorsal thermal blowhole as a primary defense, and perhaps most perplexingly both occupied the _same_ ecological niche _._ Numel were a little more varied in dietary requirements, but both prefered dehydrated carbon compounds as a favorite food.

I felt like a bit of a geek as I continued cramming more and more into my notes, but I couldn't really bring myself to care. After a good four days of work in that cave shaped oven I eventually decided I had enough and continued on my way.

Cindy had provided me company during my time in the cave and apparently had a very keen sense of hearing as she'd heard almost every single pokémon we'd come across before I'd seen it. The numels and torkoals made up the majority of the cave's inhabitants with some slugma rounding off that niche. There were also a couple koffing and grimer; probably attracted by the toxic gases and ash. I wrote them off as invasive but if they'd actually migrated on their own to the mountain's guts then I might end up revisiting this tunnel. Most weren't known to range very far barring habitat destruction. Might be fallout from the Rocket Incident, but I wouldn't have thought the after effects to reach quite this far. I'd need to ask Birch.

There was also a lone machop who looked impressively lost, but wouldn't let me get close enough to help. Oh well.

Finally the time came where I had to leave the Fiery Path. Cindy openly hesitated once we started getting truly away from the cave.

Then she snorted, shrugged - which is a truly bizarre motion from a quadruped - and followed anyways. I smiled and tossed her a pokéblock before continuing down the trail.

The valleys forced me into a somewhat circuitous route to the northern ash fields. A full day of hiking still hadn't gotten me to Hoenn's north border, but a quiet thirty-something lady let me stay in a guest room in what was literally the only house on this section of road.

I was confused by the offer, but she'd made it with a full view of my team so she apparently didn't mind the extra resources that came with it. From what I understood people who lived this far out of the way tended, and preferred, to keep to themselves. I was grateful, since it meant I didn't have to port back to Mauville to replace the feed Cindy had relieved me of. The backup food was running pretty low.

On a different note, she seemed a little lonely, enough so that any thoughts of turning the offer down felt like bad karma.

So I stayed in the little guest room. My team finding their own little nooks to fall asleep in like little mismatched pieces of furniture. She was more talkative than I'd expected for someone living this far out of the way, until she revealed it to be a friend's property she was taking care of while said friend was 'out of town'.

"I always prefered the hustle of city life, but friends are hard to make and harder to keep. Besides, it's only for a few weeks. Enough about me, though. What brings you all the way out here?"

We chatted aimlessly, trading stories for stories. She worked in Lilycove as a nurse and was due back by the time I was supposed to get there. I promised to drop by when I got there, it had been nice actually getting to talk with someone else who wasn't habitually shy or endlessly busy.

 _Or two steps away from a conniption._

I'd gotten most of the way through the valleys yesterday, so it was a straight shot to the ash fields. Once I got there, two things stood out the most. The first was how abruptly the landscape turned from green to dull grey. Just under a minute of walking and the color of the terrain completely changed. The second was that the ash got _everywhere._ I'd seen snowstorms that covered less surface area than this. It was almost unnerving to see the ground and sky the exact same color. Some places it was so bad you couldn't even find the horizon.

Perhaps the only thing stranger than the alien landscape itself was the ecosystem that had developed around it. Even as I watched from the edges of the ashy expanse a large flying type circled overhead, its feathers shining strangely. A volcanic ash field was not the place I would expect any kind of... anything to thrive, volcanic soil was usually quite fertile but Mt. Chimney's ash apparently had a bad habit of breaking down nitrogen. Really, anything surviving here at all was very impressive.

Now it was time for me to figure out _how_ and the data weren't going to collect themselves.

After I tied a shirt around my face cause this stuff tasted awful and I really didn't want to breath too much of it.

As if I didn't already have enough reasons to camp here for the next week, I stumbled across cluster of small buildings on top of a small rise about an hour in. Reading the sign stuck next to the trail raised more questions than it answered.

' _Fallarbor Glass Blowers.'_

I had some spare time, so I decided to stick my head in. I quickly realized that most of the buildings were small storage shacks and one central house with what looked like a furnace from the outside.

There was also a little 'Open' sign in the window next to the door, so I cracked the door open and stuck my head in.

Despite the relatively mild colors, the appearance of any color at all other than a pokémon or human was almost shocking. The room was lightly furnished with shelves circling the walls, each with dozens to hundreds of tiny glass shapes mounted on them. I looked around and spotted a middle aged man the same moment he spotted me.

"Oh, hello. Don't think I've seen your face before. You new?" He asked, sitting up from what looked like a glass egg with artistic etchings wrapped around the outside.

"Indeed I am. I didn't see this on the nav network and thought I'd see what was what. I'm Wallace, by the way.

"George, and that's not surprising. Business is hardly booming, but it's honest work and I enjoy it. If you saw the sign outside you'd know I was a glass blower, and a pretty good one if I may say so. I can make ornaments, earrings, paperweights, flutes, even chairs or entire desks if you'd like." He counted off his fingers before looking back at me.

"Don't think I'll have much need for furniture anytime soon." I responded jokingly, thinking about the other items he'd listed and glancing around the shelves.

"Well, even a glassblower like myself has a thing or two that might be helpful to a trainer like yourself. You see those flutes?" He gestured to a shelf near the door. On it were two glass flutes, one with twisting colors and the other with a colorless marble pattern.

"The colorful one's a focus flute. You play that and your team'll have no problem understanding what you say. Keeps them from dozing off or getting distracted or the like. The other one's a piper's flute. Depending on how you play it makes the native pokémon walk right right up to you or run for the hills. Give them a try if you'd like."

I was a little surprised at the offer but took him up on it anyways. I plucked the chromatic one from the shelf and looked it over. It was predominantly blue, yellow, and red, but the swirling glass made little motes of different colors appear in slivers. There weren't any finger holes, so I gave it an experimental puff of air. A clear note rang out, the colors around me almost seemed to sharpen from the sound. Imp, Cindy, and Marble all cocked their heads at the sound, the others were in their balls given their distaste of the ashy landscape we'd been travelling through.

I drew a breath and blew into the instrument. The sound was almost painfully clear, like sharpening a knife or a sudden blast of cold air. Whatever it was I believed George when he said it would keep my team focused. Sleeping through that... I couldn't even bring an image to mind, the sound _demanded_ focus and attention.

Putting the colorful one back, I picked up the other. There was a lone finger hole a third of the way down from the mouthpiece. Leaving it open produced a comforting whistle that reminded me of a cool wind. Closing it produced an almost confrontational buzz that made my fingertips itchy.

I didn't need to ask which tone did what.

"Well, you've certainly peaked my interest. How much?"

"It's… Actually..." He gave me an intent look before continuing. "How much longer are you planning on staying around here?"

"Well, I'm on an expedition so I'll need to be thorough around here especially. And I only got to the fields today so... Three days? Four? Why?"

"So, here's a thought. Something's up with the ash and I've ruined a lot of orders recently, so I need to stay here and work to make up for lost time. Problem with that is I'm almost out of ash and I really don't have time to go collect more. You bring me two full bags of ash," he gestured to a small pile of canvas bags stacked next to the door, "and you can keep those flutes as payment."

Money wasn't exactly a problem, but thinking like that would quickly turn it into one.

"Sounds good to me."

I felt a little bad keeping half my team stored while I worked in the ash, but Mutt hated the feeling of it in his fur, Sylph kept coughing from getting it in his mouth, and Minnow was a sea dragon.

It took a little bit of doing, but I eventually figured out a way to tie the bag to my waist so it would collect ash from the plants I walked by. Not much at a time, but it worked and it let me focus on my data while still fulfilling my promise to collect more material.

The pokémon living in the fields were weird but surprisingly few. The standard zigzagoons and taillows had been chased out some decades ago from the volcanic activity, leaving it open to those more suited for the environment. The little magmatic slugs, the same I'd seen in the cave, made sense. Lots of minerals from the ash in a sparsely populated area meant they could live unmolested.

I was caught off guard once I got a good look at one of the birds I'd seen earlier. Skarmory, the same pokémon Stephen had been using as a mount all the way back after Granite Cave. Their aluminum plates and razor feathers implied that they'd be lithovores as well, like most things that lived near active volcanoes, but it had the predatory, raptorial build of a carnivore as well. I certainly wasn't expecting them to be _herbivorous_.

They got their minerals from the ash like everything else, but their serrated beaks were for cutting the tough grass and shrubberies that lived in the harsh climate. The steel, dragon sized hawk didn't hunt - it _grazed_.

I wasn't sure what to make of that.

The last native pokémon of note was confusing for a different set of reasons. The little bipedal rabbit things my pokédex labeled as spinda appeared to be very poorly equipped for the harsh conditions. They also completely failed to take advantage of excess minerals in their food, having soft fur, low mobility, and absolutely no camouflage.

They wandered around like little, poorly balanced meals waiting to be eaten; yet the metal dragon-cows completely ignored them.

Well, for a creature whose only real defense was being confusing, they sure managed that.

The ecosystem was weird to be sure, but simple due to its size. As hypothetically well adapted the local fauna were, there was only so much energy to go around when you could never see the sun through the ash.

I got my research done in just under three days of work. The sun hadn't quite gone down yet so I decided to drop by George's shop. He had either just finished what he was doing or was waiting for me since he wasn't working on anything when I wandered in.

"Ah, I was hoping you'd drop by today. Do you- Oh, is that another bag?" He gestured to the pouch at my belt. I'd already brought in two filled bags, filling about one a day of field work.

"Yep, figured I might as well since I wasn't done here yet." I dropped the soot sack on near the empty ones by the door.

"Well shoot. The last two bags have been good stuff; lot easier to work with than I usually get. This'll have me covered for the next week at least. The flutes are there on the shelf. And here." He pulled a case out from under the table. "I was gonna give this to you anyway. Be an awful shame of you to break the flutes after collecting all that soot. I hope they serve you well."

I took the case and undid the clasps. It was a simple design, but at least it meant I wouldn't have to wrap the instruments in my extra clothes. The flutes fit perfectly into the indentations and I closed the case with a nod.

"Thank you, these'll save me a fortune in pokéblock. And if I know my professor like I think I do I may end up coming back for some extra research, so maybe we'll see each other again." I said with a smile.

"I look forward to it. Take care, Wallace." George answered with a smile.

I stayed the night in Fallarbor, mostly so I could make use of the lone hotel's washing machine. The ash didn't quite stain anything, but it was worse than sand in getting into everything. My hat was well and truly gray by the time I got it washed. There wasn't much reason for me to stay more than one night though, so I was on my way early next morning after restocking at the pokémart.

The winds that brought the ash north of Mt. Chimney sometimes shifted and brought the ash down on Fallarbor instead, giving it an oddly blasted appearance. The craters from the Meteor Falls event were just as bare as the day they'd formed in the clay rich ground. The change from bare, volcanic ground to lush forest was just as abrupt as it had been on the east side of Route 113.

Geologically and geographically speaking I was entering the most interesting part of Hoenn. Fallarbor Lake was actually a lower elevation than sea level so salt water flowed in from the north coast. It formed a long, narrow salted patch of land and water that marked the west border of Fallarbor and the north border of the Meteor Fall Fields. Between the sporadic coverings of ash and the extremely salty soil the whole area around it was completely sterile. The highwater mark of the lake was clearly visible where the vegetation abruptly sprang out of the dirt.

What was even more fascinating was that the whole area around Meteor Falls was entirely separate from the area around it, it was almost shockingly visible if you knew to look for it. The rock went from rust red igneous to pale white metamorphic and back again without any explanation. The name was based on the most widely accepted theory, that a large meteor or comet had fallen out of the sky and just landed on Hoenn's main island without doing much damage to itself or the surrounding countryside.

It said something about how little we understood about it if _that_ was what most people accepted. Whatever the case was, I wasn't quite to Meteor Falls proper just yet. The pokémon in the fields tended to just take advantage of the shelter the rock formations provided, not the strange effects the minerals had on the other inhabitants. The landscape itself was much friendlier as well, the whole was one wide valley with little hills giving the grassy land at the bottom an almost wavy look. The rock around Meteor Falls was even worse for plant life than the igneous stuff I'd been dealing with, causing a rapid fall of in plant life at the south end of the fields.

The land was sterile in every direction around Meteor Fall Fields, which led to the kind of ecological isolation that made people like me very curious. The pokémon around only lived around here and the staples for everywhere else on the continent were pointedly absent.

Speaking of pokémon, I was extremely grateful I'd gotten ahold of the flutes. Some of the natives were friendly, almost startlingly so. The little cloudy blue birds that drifted around had no problem at all with getting close enough to land on your head, which they did on multiple occasions. The rest... were not as friendly.

I was actually staring at one of the less friendly residents at the moment, trying very hard not to make any sudden moves. The snake was coiled - well, more accordion-ed really - about three feet in front of me. Its head also swayed gently a good three feet above mine, giving me what I hoped wasn't a threatening look. It flicked its tongue out between bright red fangs as long as my forearm.

There were only a few times where I'd been this close to a pokémon bigger than me, yet somehow I'd never felt so acutely like a snack before.

I _might_ be able to toss it a pokéblock or ten as a distraction, but the tin tended to rattle and I _really_ didn't want to push my luck at the moment. That left me with an uncomfortably short list of options.

 _It might be a pokémon but I'd bet my hat it's not dumb enough to let me slowly back away in full view. Any bait would be too loud and a repel might antagonize it. Mutt might be able to scare it away but he's too far back. Guess this is as good of a field test test for the flutes as I'm going to get._

I started to move my hand, but the enormous snake gave a loud hiss. I stopped, needless to say. The rest of my team who were out were holding stock still like I was, but one of them...

 _Imp._ I poked the connection. She didn't move but I could feel her response, some confusion, a little bit of curiosity, but mostly fear.

 _Flutes._ I brought an image to mind of where I'd put the case in my back. _Stay out of sight._

It took some nudging, but she slowly started extricating the case. I could feel the shifting and hear the rustling of fabric, but the snake just continued to loom.

After an agonizing minute of subtle shifting and several instructory images Imp finally got the monochromatic flute out of my pack. Now I was faced with a choice. I could either have Imp pass it to me and move to take it, even minimally, or I could ask Imp to play it.

She'd had a hard enough time just getting the case open, asking her to play a flute well enough to calm an obviously hostile pokémon?

I moved as slowly as I could, I'd made it about four inches of the two feet I needed to move before the snake hissed again and went still. My instincts informed me that if I moved _at all_ the snake would lunge.

No choice then.

I tried to explain how to play the flute to Imp. When that didn't work I took a step back and tried to explain how to deliberately exhale. When that also failed I tried to tell her how to hold her breath.

Nothing. It took me several tense moments to realize why.

 _She doesn't have a dive reflex. Asking her to hold her breath is like asking me to stop my heart._

Well... shit.

The snake hadn't moved yet. I wasn't dead, but I still wasn't allowed to move.

 _She doesn't have a dive reflex, but_ I _do. Maybe..._

I reached for the connection again, trying to flex the part she'd used to make me pickpocket myself several times over the last week. Then I tried to send the instructions as direct impulses.

She was startled by the... whatever it was I was doing; the details were somewhat lost on me. I suppose having a puppet turn around and start pulling the strings could be pretty alarming.

I couldn't actually tell when Imp started following my impulses, but I felt my bag shift so I knew something was happening. I focused as best I was able with an enormous cold blooded carnivore staring down at me.

 _Lift the flute, make sure you're not covering the fingerhole. Inhale, sustain as long as you can._ A vague, detached sense of mounting pressure and discomfort. _HOLD._ The pressure slowed, the discomfort did not. It was almost impossible to ignore how unnatural the sensation felt. Easy does it. This isn't just control, this actively runs counter to core survival instincts. Push too hard and she'll panic. _Close your mouth around the lip plate and EXHALE._

Nothing.

 _Again._

I gave her a minute to recover while I kept trying to explain what needed to happen. _Air goes in, sound comes out. You'll get it right._

The second try failed.

The third try... there might have been the smallest of whistles. It wasn't enough.

I hadn't noticed until the third attempt, but the snake was getting closer. Ever so slowly it was slithering forward. If I reached forward as far as I could I might be able to touch it.

I kept the creeping panic out of my thoughts as best I was able, this was already stressful enough for Imp.

The fourth try failed.

The fifth produced a tiny buzz, she'd left one of her digits over the fingerhole. The snake hissed at me and visibly slithered another inch forward. We were running out of time.

We had enough for one more attempt or I could have Imp grab a repel from my bag. Each felt about as likely to work.

What it really came down to was whether I wanted to calm it down or chase it away.

I'd made that choice on the first day of my career as a trainer.

 _One more try. I trust you._

Imp inhaled, paused, and blew. A whistle rang out.

It wasn't perfect, but the enormous reptile halted its barely visible advance.

 _Perfect, that was perfect. A few more times and we're good._

Sputtered whistle by sputtered whistle, the snake loosened until it lay flat on the ground. Only after it had gone all but limp did I dare to start moving away.

It didn't follow me, it never looked away, but it didn't follow me. I escaped without any more trouble. Then I very clearly and deliberately gave Imp permission to take as much as she wanted out of the pokéblock tin as she wanted.

I even went as far as to teach her how to open it. I had to - I was trembling too badly to open it myself. Besides, I wasn't about to be stingy when...

 _I could have died._

One bite could have punched several holes clean through me - fatal enough even without counting the all too probable venom it carried. Teleporter or not, that could have easily been it.

I sat down, the motion more abrupt than I'd meant it to be. My hands were shaking even harder now and I was having trouble getting enough air in. My vision was starting to tunnel as my heart pounded in my throat. The sounds of rustling grass around me went from peaceful to terrifying; every blade hiding the movement of a lunging snake.

 _Flute. The Focus Flute._ I remembered the feeling of honed focus I'd gotten from the sound. If I could play it maybe I could get out of _this._

I fumbled my pack off, apologising to Imp with an incoherent mumble. The case was still open from-

I stopped and closed my eyes, trying to force the shaking down. After a moment I reached blindly into my bag and tried to extract the instrument. A few tries later and I got it out but I couldn't keep a damn grip on the thing.

It was in my hands and I couldn't even use it, I was shaking too badly.

 _Breathe, slowly._

I held my breath. _In, hold, hold, out, wait, in hold, hold, out, wait._

I just sat there for a minute, getting my head to stop spinning and put the world back in order. Mutt nudged my hand, butting his head against my palm. I gave him an ear rub and allowed myself a smile.

 _Guess this wouldn't have been much of an expedition without at least one near death experience. Even so let's try to keep it to_ just _one. Fate has a way with people who keep tempting it._

I flipped open my pokédex. _'Seviper. Poison Type.'_

I had my info, so hopefully I could avoid something like this again. At the moment though I was content to listen to the sound of chewing emanating from my pack.

I have no reservations in saying that I did not spend as much time collecting data as I might have. Out of habit I had camped outside the first night; during which I had had no fewer than three uncomfortably close encounters with scaly nighttime visitors.

The flutes were not going to leave arm's reach within the foreseeable future if I had anything to say about it.

For the second night I had climbed all the way up to the top of one of the valley walls to avoid the sevipers, only to immediately get chased away by an extremely irate cloud with a small blue bird hiding in the middle. My pokédex cheerfully informed me that it was an altaria, likely guarding its nest in one of the tiny patches of semi-flat land that wasn't riddled with zangooses or sevipers.

So I had to settle for a slope; where I was discovered by another seviper anyway.

I left _really early_ the next morning.

"If I never see another snake again it'll be too soon." I muttered grumpily. Imp hummed in agreement and Mutt gave a chuff.

It was a bit of a hike to actually get to Meteor Falls, a side effect of the looping trails and strange geography. The rocks took on a dark grey color tinged with what might have been blue the closer I got to the center. The center of Meteor Falls, labeled by the waterfalls that ran through it, wasn't actually very big. So the moment I got a good look at the area, I immediately saw the red uniforms clustering around a small white tent that was obviously too small for all of them.

Team Aqua had only worn blue that I'd seen, so either they were branching their color scheme or there was another player on the board. The other similarities were already too numerous to ignore.

My brain didn't offer much input other than a long list of expletives.

 _Thanks, brain._

I pulled my collapsed bike off my belt and pressed the button on the side, letting it fully expand and solidify before hopping on and making my way towards the gathering.

The shouting grew louder as I approached, I couldn't make anything out but the red-clad grunts hadn't seemed to notice me yet. Once I got close enough I got off my bike and left it on the ground, creeping forward and motioning for my team to be quiet.

Mutt cocked his head made a confused burble at the motion. One of the grunts glanced around just in time to see me facepalm.

"Kid, keep- Oh hell, trainer!" His eyes widened as he shouted to the other mooks.

I jumped on the confusion as best I was able.

"Imp, teleport." _Behind them, cut them off._ "Mutt, roar."

Imp vanished from my pack and appeared on the opposite side of the group, humming more with energy than sound. Mutt added to the chaos by opening his mouth and letting out a staggering amount of noise, that the sound crawled into your head and told you to _run_ only made it more potent.

"Marble, go to Imp. Cindy-" I stopped when one of the grunts panicked and sprinted away from the group.

Kicking Imp aside in the process.

I was not feeling like a generally benevolent person after the last few days, and maybe I was on just a bit of a hair trigger from the lack of safe sleep. So in retrospect, I might have made a slightly different choice than immediately setting Minnow on their sorry asses.

But I did, and even now I can't say I regret it.

 _So much for pacifism._

What Mutt had started, Minnow finished. He uncoiled a scant few feet from the shouting group and loomed over them. I should have had him trap them so I could get some rangers and eventually the police out here to deal with them.

I let them run instead. At the moment I didn't trust myself to command a gyarados well enough to pacify a group of people without injuring them. So I would just have to do with chasing them off before they got anything.

"Wait! Stop!" A lone scientist with greying hair ran out of the tent. "They took the meteorite! You have to stop them."

 _Or not._

I shook my head and tried to focus. "Which one?" I climbed up Minnow's side to my usual seat.

"The leader, her uniform looked a little different. If you hurry-" he stopped when we noticed a trio of Team Aqua mooks approaching.

 _Great, I didn't want to have a good day today anyways._

"If you want the meteorite you've missed it." I shouted from Minnow's back. It sounded like I really needed to go get the rock back if the scientist's panic was an accurate gauge, but I couldn't leave a civilian with three members of a known terrorist organization.

The leader looked up at me. A rough looking man in an altered blue uniform to make him look vaguely like a pirate. Despite the getup he felt a lot higher up the food chain than the people I'd chased from Slateport Museum.

His eyes scanned Minnow, but if he was impressed he hid it well. "The group of criminals leaving just now take it?" His voice was scratchy, powerful, and surprisingly cold, like sand against steel.

I nodded. I was getting the same feeling I had gotten from Wattson and my dad. He felt like a gym leader. He walked with the confidence borne of self assurance and power, both confirmed by experience and victory.

Thankfully he just made a gesture and the two bodyguards he'd brought let out a pair of swellows and took off after the red group, leaving me with the apparent ringleader.

"Trainer, have you heard of Team Aqua?" His tone betrayed no information.

"You could say that." I let my bad mood cover my tone.

He didn't really seem to care about my answer since he started expositing anyways.

"Team Aqua is a relatively new organization. Our goal is simply the betterment of all life in the world, for everyone."

I put as much dry, silent sarcasm in my gaze as I could manage.

"Unfortunately, another group arose at much the same time we did. The awful Team Magma. Their goal stands profoundly against ours, for they seek to not only expand the landmass of Hoenn, but to reawaken Mt. Chimney in the process." He continued explaining, pacing back and forth with a casual gate.

I _very_ hesitantly agreed. Not because I agreed with the rhetoric or the motivations, but because I couldn't really deny that setting a volcano off in the middle of one of the major population regions would be _bad._

"I doubt I need to explain to you how disastrous that would be for the oceans around us and those who inhabit it. We must stop Team Magma, and I would be much obliged for your help with this. Let me know what you decide." He waltzed forward, right up to Minnow's side and handed me a small card.

 _The ocean? What about the towns and cities that'll be buried under molten rock before that? Where the hell are your priorities?_

"Now, I need to go make sure those criminals are apprehended before they cause any more damage. Let me know when you decide."

He walked around the rest of Minnow's length and followed the trail out of sight. I just watched him all the way out.

 _So there's not one but_ two _dangerously misled groups of domestic terrorists and extremists currently making a bid for power._

If things got bad enough that people needed to start evacuating...

 _I'm glad Mom's not living in any of the cities._

I just let out a long sigh before getting off Minnow and moving to Imp. The kick had sent her sprawling but she didn't look too bad. I gave her a potion anyways before approaching the scientist.

"One to ten it for me. How much do I need to worry about that meteor they stole?"

He looked surprised by the question before thinking for a moment.

"Seven? Eight? They might be able to force Mt. Chimey to erupt with it. 'Might' is the only reason it's not ten."

 _Wonderful. Just wonderful._

 _I'm going to need a plan._

I went over what I knew.

Team Aqua and Magma were causing trouble over what appeared to be the entirety of Hoenn. Something was happening with Mt. Chimney that Magma was either causing or taking advantage of. If Magma got that meteor up to the top of the volcano things would very rapidly go from bad to apocalyptic. Either a ranking leader or _the_ leader of Aqua was in the process of trying to stop them but pokémon could fly fast and teleport faster. There might be no situation at all, but there might also be an immediate threat of volcanic eruption.

God I was tired.

I got the scientist's nav number in case something happened that I needed his insight on. My first plan had been to go and get as many park rangers moving as I could since the police were unlikely to get to Mt. Chimney fast enough.

The primary flaw in that plan was that the only rangers I had come across had wanted to battle and I'd just left afterwards without getting any of their numbers. I could probably get Dad or Wattson working on it but I had no idea how long it would take, which put that plan in the same pile as the police one.

In fact, once I started thinking about it. I wasn't sure I knew _anyone_ who could get there in time. I hadn't stopped by Lavaridge and I hadn't really spoken to anyone in Fallarbor, making Mauville the closest location of anyone I really knew.

Whatever I did needed to happen _now._

It wouldn't help, but I called Wattson anyways.

"Who's this?" The gym leader's voice came through the speaker with the tone of someone who'd been interrupted. I really wanted to leave him alone but _someone_ needed to hear about this.

"It's Wallace. I'm sorry for interrupting but this is _important._ Team Magma just got ahold of something in Meteor Falls and they're trying to use it to make Mt. Chimney erupt again. It's-"

"Whoa, lad, slow down. Team Magma? Who's that?"

I suppressed a growl.

"Red getups, prone to stealing things, obsessed with volcanoes apparently? You _have_ heard of them right?"

"Lad this is the first I've heard of any Team since Rocket fell apart. Are you certain?"

I _barely_ suppressed a growl.

"Okay, things are happening _now._ I really don't have time to explain everything, but if you know of any rangers near Mt. Chimney tell them to get to the cable car ASAP. I promise I'll explain what I can when there's less of a possibility of regional extinction. I need to go."

I hung up before he could respond. I knew I was being unfair, but there would be time for apologizing later. Part of my bad mood hinged on the fact that almost all of my haste was based on one scientist's hypothesis.

And it was going to come down on _my_ head if he was wrong.

Whatever, complain later, save the day now. I still needed a plan.

 _Best case scenario has some rangers at the cable car station already, but even if they get moving right now that pits two to four rangers against what might be the entirety of Team Magma. That's not enough. If Aqua got the meteor then we have time to get a real group together but I_ can't _count on that._

The ground chose that moment to shudder with a rumble that stretched in all directions. I looked in the direction of the volcano and saw an enormous black cloud stretching from its tip in the distance.

Aqua hadn't been fast enough. Well, that was one question answered. And holy crap Magma worked quickly.

If anyone could get there in time, it would be Team Aqua or me. I only trusted one of those parties to not make things worse.

 _Well, newfound dreams of responsibility, welcome to your first field test. Say hello and try not to die._

"Imp, teleport." I made contact with each member of my team before the smooth jerk brought us all to the cable car station.

I hadn't gotten a very good look at the amount of ash Mt. Chimney had been spewing last time I'd been here, but it definitely hadn't been _that much._

There was a grey pillar of soot stretching away from the top of the mountain, some of it even spilling down around the slopes like there wasn't enough room in the sky. The grit was so tightly packed it looked solid despite being the consistency of smoke. Almost a third of the sky was hidden.

And there were no rangers at the station.

I allowed myself a very long sigh before making my way into the station, ignoring the 'closed' sign still crookedly hung in the window.

Apparently Wattson _had_ sent out a radio blast telling people to get to the volcano because there was already a technician working at the desk. He'd been investigating several unauthorized uses of the cable car so he'd already been here when Wattson raised the alarm. It had taken very little convincing to get him to let my into the car.

"I've been working shifts here for three years and I've never seen Chimney like this. The cameras prove you're not with them, at least. Get up there and do what you can; the nearest ranger's ten minutes out."

 _Great, looks like I'm doing this on my own._

I got into the tethered vehicle and the doors slid shut behind Cindy. The technician gave me a thumbs up and the box lurched forward.

The next six minutes were the longest of my life.

About halfway up there was a sound I can only describe as earthshaking. It was like thunder that just didn't stop, or a perfectly looped explosion.

Then the car started to sway. The first lurch was small enough I'd almost thought I'd imagined it. The second picked me up off my feet and slammed me into the floor. I landed sideways on my ankle and I felt tendons strain as heat and pain flooded around the joint. We continued to swing wildly for several seconds as we were thrown into chaos.

I might have cried out, but it was hard to tell in the uproar my team caused. Imp was near one of the walls and had managed to brace, so she was uninjured. Marble had left a very visible dent in the floor after hitting it like a cannonball but seemed more confused than in pain. Mutt was the best balanced of all of us and was growling threateningly at the unseen aggressor. Sylph had hit the ceiling and was wobbling around on the floor looking dazed. I hadn't seen what happened to Cindy but she looked unharmed, if a bit spooked.

I gripped the hand railing and hoisted myself off of the floor, my ankle throbbing loudly despite the lack of weight.

"Guys, we need to-" Sylph flapped drunkenly and hit me with a wing in the process. My injured ankle failed to provide any support and I hit the floor again.

I grimaced before pulling out the focus flute and blowing, hard. The sound gripped me like a freezing clamp, the pain dulled and lines sharpened for the space of a moment before I ran out of breath. Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"Everyone around me." I gestured everyone into arm's reach. If the cable snapped I wanted to be able to teleport everyone out as fast as I could.

We waited in tense quiet while I tested my injured appendage. I wasn't going to be using it for walking any time soon. The rest of the ride was quiet other than the ominous creaking from the car.

We got to the time and I wasted no time exiting the metal box. The fresh soot shifted overhead like a muddy sea where the sky was supposed to be. To my surprise, no one was waiting for us when the doors slid open. I wasn't left wondering for very long when I heard the sounds of battle nearby.

Maybe Aqua had managed something after all.

Another rumble shook the mountain. Looked like they were in need of some pretty serious help though.

I let Minnow out and hoisted myself onto his back before nudging him forward.

"Mutt, up front! Marble, you're on the left! Cindy, right!" I shouted the positions to my team. I wasn't going to fight this like a normal battle, rules or no this was an arceus damned volcano that might already be erupting.

We moved up the rocky slope and I got my first good look at what was going on. There were tents scattered around the most even areas of the volcanic rim, between them people in blue and red were battling for all they were worth.

It was chaos, the kind of chaos that happens when nothing was going according to anyone's plans. I had no idea what to do about any of it, so I just made use of it to move as quickly as I could through the battlefield.

If I could remove the meteor from whatever was causing... _this_ there was a chance of fixing whatever was going wrong. Or at least buying time for people who could fix this to actually get here.

I scanned the battleground looking for anything resembling a hint. I didn't find the meteor, but something else caught my eye.

The Aqua leader I'd spoken with back at Meteor Falls was holding his own against three individual grunts, shouting a continuous stream of commands to his team. I had only the barest idea of what was going, hopefully he would know more.

"Mutt, Roar!" I shouted, nudging Minnow into a surge through the battleground.

The two most intimidating members of my team parted people and pokémon in front of us like water as we charged through the battleground. Between our momentum and collective presence no one reacted quite fast enough to try stopping us.

I got within range of Big Blue's fight before having Minnow stop.

"Dragon Rage!" I used my knees to point him to the Magma pokémon. The dragonfire engulfed a numel and two poochyenas. I wasn't sure when the Aqua leader had noticed me, but I certainly had his attention now.

"Where's the meteor?!" I shouted from Minnow's back.

He paused for the barest moment before pointing at one of the larger tents nearest the volcano's opening. My intervention had only bought him a few seconds as the grunts switched their fallen members out and the fight began anew.

I left him to it. I had a volcano to stop. I nudged Minnow back into a charge towards the main tent, I could only hope the Aqua grunts would keep anyone from following me.

I got to the cloth structure and hopped off, immediately landing on my injured ankle and making friends with the stony ground. I kept one hand on Minnow's side as I stood up before hobbling inside. Tearing open the entrance revealed a man with slicked back red hair and glasses in what looked like a deep red lab coat typing frantically at a computer and a grown woman in a modified Magma uniform who whipped around to meet my gaze.

"I'll buy you time!" She shouted, grabbing a pokéball from her belt and hurling it at the ground before I could respond.

I was forced to back up as a large zubat flew forward with a cry. I staggered back to my team with a grimace. Minnow could torch the tent, it would be easy and almost certainly stop whatever the Magma scientist was doing.

But I wasn't here to commit murder.

 _Not yet._

"Zubat, Wing Attack!" She shouted, following the cave dweller out of the tent.

Time to fight.

Beating the lady who introduced herself as the Magma Administrator Tabitha didn't take very long. Not because she was incompetent, but because she'd tried to follow The Rules at first where I had not.

Six on one was not much of a fight. Six on three wasn't much better. She hadn't even stopped to recall her last pokémon before sprinting back into the tent. Barely a moment passed before the scientist had stepped out and opened every ball on his belt.

He only had three pokémon, but this fight had proven much harder. I didn't even think about pausing to scan the camerupt until it was over. Tabitha had been angry and commanded her team with an animal cunning.

This man had barely raised his voice as his pokémon worked in perfect coordination. He'd even managed to shoot Sylph out of the sky.

But I had still won. I locked eyes with him after he recalled his own fallen golbat.

"You are going to call Tabitha out here, and you are both going to surrender without pocketing anything in that tent. Do you understand?" I said with a calmness I didn't have.

He didn't answer.

" _Now._ "

He just kept glaring at me. I really hadn't wanted to go this far.

"Listen. I need you to understand something. It's your lives, or the entire rest of Hoenn. I don't want to kill anyone, but that's not a decision you want me to make. You have five seconds."

He stood his ground.

"Five. Four. Three. Two-"

"Tabitha." He called in a voice that reminded me of candle smoke. "Code Blue. We're leaving."

I hardened my own gaze. "The word I used was surr-"

I didn't have time to react, he just whipped something out of his pocket and threw it before clamping his hands over his ears and ducking. The small grey object arced up next to Minnow's head.

Then the world was light and ringing and nothing else. I was vaguely aware of a few other flashes and bangs much further away, but at the moment the only thing I could feel was a rising sense of nausea and Minnow's bulk roiling beneath me.

I fumbled for the focus flute and almost dropped it from Minnow's thrashing. Then I might have vomited, it was rather hard to tell what was going on. However long it took for me to play the damn thing was longer than I wanted.

Where it had been a hard clamp of noise and focus in the cable car, it was now a clear whistle in a world that was blurs and ringing. I took a few moments just to keep blowing into the flute and get my head screwed back on straight.

Once I could open my eyes without needing to puke again, I forced myself off of Minnow's back, landing on my abused ankle yet again. I couldn't really bring myself to care as I limped forward into the tent.

The meteorite was in a glass holding chamber thing next to the computer, giving off an ominous glow. The computer itself was still spewing data that I couldn't make sense of on the best day of my life.

This was not the best day of my life.

I pulled myself up on the desk and tried to open the glass container. Failing that I smashed it open and yanked the rock out, getting a gash on the back of my hand for my trouble. I stuffed the offending hunk of iron in my pack.

Another glance at the computer showed me that that graphs had all bottomed out. I didn't know what that meant, but I'd take it as good enough.

Another degrading twenty feet of slow shuffling brought me back outside where I recalled everyone in my team. Then I laid down on the hot stone and stared up at the billowing ash. I was seconds from just passing out there on the ground when the sound of approaching footsteps forced me back to full consciousness.

Blue Leader was standing a few feet away from me looked like he'd been trampled, though I had few doubts that I looked at least as bad as he did.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced." His voice sounded much less imperious than it had last time we'd talked.

 _Great. Why the hell do I care?_

I gave him a look to convey my poorly hidden thoughts as I sat up.

"I am Archie, the leader of Team Aqua, and I would like to thank you for your help."

 _Oh, that's why I care._

I gave him a thumbs up in response, not having the energy for anything else.

"Have you already removed the meteorite?"

I gave him as hard of a look as I could manage before nodding.

"It's important that it's returned to Meteor Falls, and to be honest you don't look up to the trek yourself at the moment. If you give it to me I can-"

"Archie, you're so full of shit it's coming out your ears."

I briefly wished for a camera after seeing the look on his face.

"I _do_ want to thank you for helping prevent Hoenn from getting buried under a fresh layer of volcanic rock, but I am well aware that your motives and mine were at odds. I don't care why you want this damned rock, I'm not giving it to you and your team isn't in good enough condition for you to make me. I'd rather destroy it than risk you having it."

I was genuinely too tired to sound anything but casually dismissive, which actually worked in my favor for once.

Archie's gaze lingered on me for a very long moment before he turned around and walked away.

I counted to sixty. Once, twice, three times. I let Imp out of her ball. She staggered before stumbling into a sitting position, making a surprisingly human groaning sound as she rubbed her heartpieces.

 _Sorry to ask this, but we need to get out of here. Anywhere will do._

I let her presence back into my head and laid down on the ground before letting darkness and vertigo take me.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: And now behold the aftermath. Things are going to start changing more from here, volcanoes are good for that sort of thing. Also I couldn't find a good place to end this so the chapter just kinda drops off, it is longer though. Lastly, I belatedly realized that the dive reflex I mentioned last chapter isn't quite correct, from here out let's just say most land based critters can't deliberately hold their breath because reasons. Whatever, hope you enjoy. Favorite, Follow, Review, you know the drill.

Chapter 9: Aftershock

A steady, annoying beeping accompanied my return to consciousness. My immediate assessment was that I felt like crap, the bed was comfy, and something was lying on my face.

Said something was also snoring at an impressive volume.

"There's an entire bed to lie down on, and you picked my face? What are you, a meowth?"

Imp gave a hum and a long stretch before I felt her focus suddenly. A second of frantic movement passed which ended with her patting over my face through concerned warbles.

"Easy. I'm still alive and so are all of you, that's-" my eyes caught an angry red splash of color on her side. She'd been just a hair too slow too slow to dodge a flamethrower from Maxie's camerupt. And more importantly she hadn't been healed yet.

I immediately started looking around the room for a nurse call button or something. I didn't clearly recall where Imp had teleported me before I'd passed out, but apparently it had been close enough to civilization for someone to get me the rest of the way to a hospital. The room I was in had the standard monitors keeping track of my heart rate, breathing, not dying, etc. There were some large windows to my left with the shades drawn, leaving the illumination to the bright fluorescent lights. A few chairs, a small side table, the door off to my right...

No button.

I started the process of hoisting myself up before an idea struck me and I pulled a few electrodes off. The monitor started beeping unhappily while I waited for someone to come check and see if I was dead yet.

Less than a minute after I pulled the wires off a nurse strode briskly through the door. She took one look at me before visibly relaxing and moving to the noisily protesting machine. A few button presses left it silent.

"It's good that you woke up," she said frankly. "You've been unconscious for the last fifteen hours."

I let out a long sigh. "That's a pretty long time for Imp to go without treatment. Any chance you could get her ball from my bag?" I tilted my head towards the psychic sitting on top of me.

"You're welcome to try but she's been... _difficult_ with the hospital staff. Just getting you hooked up took almost twenty minutes." She answered with a small smirk.

 _You were being difficult? Stop the presses._ I thought to my companion with a dry look.

She didn't hum in response, just giving me a long look with one pink-irised eye.

' _You scared me. You wouldn't wake up.'_

The guilt was like unexpectedly cold water. I shifted and broke eye contact, immediately feeling bad.

"I think I can get her to cooperate." I said to the nurse after a brief silence. Mostly to get her to leave.

She only nodded and strode back out of the room. I didn't need to be linked with the little psychic sitting on the bed to know we weren't looking at each other.

"I'm sorry for making you worry, and thank you for getting me back somewhere safe."

Her thoughts weren't quite as sharp now, more of a haze of lingering resentment and affectionate fear.

' _Don't do it again.'_

"I can't promise that, but I'll do everything in my power regardless."

An eye locked with mine, she wasn't happy. I gave a tired sigh, noticing my throat felt parched.

"Imp, do you understand why I did that? Why I put not just myself but all of you in a situation like that?"

She didn't look away, so I gave her an answer in her own words. Images of the eruption, towns buried under burning rock, people evacuating, _fear._

I knew my mental construction was unlikely to be completely accurate, but it didn't need to be. I felt her pick at the logics I'd used to make it, she knew I wasn't just trying to scare her.

"That's what we stopped. That's why I made you fight so hard. You know I hate pushing you guys like that. For pete's sake you've been inside my head. I don't think I _can_ lie to you. But we saved hundreds if not thousands of lives and several cities.

"So no, I can't and won't promise I won't do something like that again. Odds are we won't have to, but I can't say it for certain."

There was silence for a time.

She hummed a quiet acknowledgement.

The nurse chose that moment to walk back into the room with my pack and a bundle of clothing.

"Suppose I should've asked this earlier, but what's the diagnosis?" I took the offered bag and started rooting through the pouches. _Medicine or ball?_

"I'm afraid I'll need to address that after your visitor is done with his questions. He should be up in a moment."

Imp didn't want to leave if she could avoid it and knew the medicine was more expensive but didn't want to ask for it. I dug out a super potion and a burn heal.

"Should I know who to expect?" I asked, breaking the seal on the vial of bright red salve.

"It would probably best for you see for yourself." She continued typing at the computer next to the heart monitor.

There was a knock at the door about a minute later, just as I was finishing applying the medicinal spray. Wattson walked in with an expression too serious for his face, I figured it might have something to do with the police officer that followed him through the door.

"Wallace." He greeted me with a nod.

"Hello, Wattson. Where should I begin?" I was pretty confident that the thing he was most concerned about started with a 'v' and ended with an 'olcano'.

"Start with the events that led up to you calling me."

"Alright, so I was surveying Meteor Fall Fields..."

There was a surprising amount to recall.

The Magma grunts, the meteor getting stolen, Archie, the train of logic that led to me chasing Magma up the volcano, injuring my ankle on the cable car, the battleground at the top, my fight with Tabitha and Maxie, the flashbang, recovering the meteor, and apparently teleporting to Wattson's arena.

I apologized for that last one.

The officer had seemed skeptical that I'd been able to beat both Tabitha and Maxie until Wattson stood to my defence.

"Wallace here's beaten _me_ while actively holding back. If the lad says he beat them, he beat them."

I was in the process of showing them both the meteor. It was surprisingly heavy, like a little igneous shotput. It was also much warmer than it had any excuse to be, almost hot to the touch despite having been in my backpack for the last half day.

The meteor was summarily confiscated. I was just as glad to see the thing vanish into the officer's hands; stupid rock had caused me enough trouble already. I'd also agreed to let the media know of my involvement if he left my name out of it.

"So, what happens now?" I asked after the officer had finished his questions and left.

Wattson leaned back with a tired sigh. "Now, we need to work on calming Mt. Chimney. You got the meteorite out and that's kept it from getting worse, but it's not getting any better either."

"How bad is not better?" I asked, not sure I wanted an answer.

Instead of responding, the gym leader just pulled his nav out and flicked the little holographic screen to a video window.

' _Mt. Chimney: Live Feed.'_

It looked like the camera had been set up at the base station, likely the work of the technician I'd met. The video was too grainy to be sure, but the volcano looked just as bad as when I'd seen it last. Still coughing swathes of ash into the sky.

"Bad, then. Is there anything more I can do to help?"

"Lad, the only job I'll give you _now_ is to rest. You've already done far more than we could ask of any civilian or trainer. For something this big we need to get the League involved. 'Sides, on that leg you're not going to be getting _anywhere_ very quickly."

I winced at the memories; spraining my leg in the shaking car before landing on it _hard_. Twice.

"So that's it, then? There's a volcano begging to erupt and I get to lie in bed?" There was no need to hide that that did not sit well with me.

Wattson gave me a look that made me feel much smaller. He didn't say anything, just looked at the injured kid lying in a hospital bed insisting he could still help.

"We're doing what we can about Chimney, but calming a volcano is something few know how to fix and even fewer people can accomplish. The police are chasing any trails that might lead to Magma or Aqua and the League is offering their assistance as best they're able. I'd be looking for this Maxie myself but we were all of five minutes into the triathlon when Chimney started blacking out the horizon. I've got my hands full with too many thousands of terrified tourists and nowhere safe to put them.

"You really want to help lad? Keep doing what you've been doing. Be an ear to the ground, sniffing the back roads and send up the signal when you find anything. I took a gamble just taking your word earlier today, but I can promise the next time you call I'm not going to waste time hesitating. Before any of that, though? _Rest_. You aren't going to help anyone by dropping dead."

I listened, not liking his words but unable to find anything wrong with them.

"Alright, but both of the Team leaders know my face now. Anything I should be doing about that?"

The old man leaned back and I noticed a flicker of something pass over his face. It might have been regret, regret that he hadn't tried to dissuade me from this entirely.

I pretended not to notice, so did he.

"To be honest? I doubt it. Maxie's records, or what we've been able to find at least say he's sharp, dangerously so. But your first run in with Magma was today so only he even knows to look for a kid in a white hat. That's not enough to distinguish you unless you end up on national news or something and give him enough to start naming names. And Archie doesn't have a reason to go looking for you just yet. For now at least, you should be fine.

"But enough of that. You still need to rest and I need to stop being a bad influence. Take all the time you need to recover, and lad?" He stopped at the door and turned to give me a look. "Call your parents. You might be a major, but you'll always be their baby."

With that he opened the door and walked out.

I was left in the quiet room, Imp having curled up near my feet and snoring audibly.

I reached into the pile of my stuff the nurse had left by my bed and pulled out my nav.

The hospital held on to me for the night and a couple hours the next day. I'd really done a number on my ankle and I was going to need crutches for three weeks and the brace for a week longer. The cut on my hand just needed a bandage and a week or so. The flashbang's effects were just as temporary as their design had intended and I'd only gotten hit by one, so no treatment was necessary on that front.

I really wasn't looking forward to the crutches though. I was briefly tempted to continue on my expedition anyways, but I forced myself to take at least a few weeks off.

And by that I meant I teleported home, where I knew Mom would forbid me from doing anything more until I'd completely healed. During the nav calls I'd made last night I had somehow managed to avoid telling Mom about the whole Chimney episode. I had a hunch she knew _something_ was up, but didn't want to push.

Dad had figured it out pretty quickly. Teleporting home and promising to tell Mom hadn't really been _my_ ideas.

So here I was, standing on the doorstep wanting to do nothing more than be _anywhere else._ Two misfired teleports from Imp later I raised my hand and knocked.

(Connie)

I'd recognize that knock's cadence until the day I died. A smile crossed my face as I looked up from my book.

"Who is it?" I called, waiting for the customary greeting.

"It's Wallace."

My smile faltered. _He's been growing up so fast, I hope he's not trying to outgrow his quirks._ I got up to open the door, also finding myself wondering why he hadn't just let himself in.

"Aw, I was hoping for the gingerbread man." I smiled, opening the door- "What happened to you?!"

My baby was leaning on a crutch with an impressive brace on his right foot, his crutch hand also had a very visible bandage wrapped around it.

Guess I knew what he'd been hiding when he called last night. I'd suspected a run in with May or just a particularly bad day, not injuries.

He gave a guilty grin and lowered his head. "You should see the other guy."

I put my hands on my hips.

He cringed a little bit further before hobbling inside.

"What happened."

I didn't need to be his mother to know he didn't want to be here, I shot a look at the psychic that never left his backpack.

 _I know you can hear me, missy. Don't you even think of teleporting him out of here._

"Well, uh, have you watched the news?"

I would have called him on changing the subject, but it didn't feel like he was.

"It's been hard not to. Mt. Chimney's tremors could be felt even all the way out-" a section from the news feed abruptly came to mind.

" _-group calling themselves 'Team Magma' stole a powerful meteorite from a research team in Meteor Falls and attempted to use the object to force Mt. Chimney to erupt. The story goes that a lone trainer who has requested his name to be withheld selflessly battled through Team Magma's forces and disabled the device causing the eruption. So we may all rest easy knowing-"_

I hadn't much payed attention to that part of the feed. Maybe it had been an undercover member of the League, or maybe there really was a powerful good samaritan in the right place at the right time.

Or maybe it had been my baby, my little boy. The same little boy who'd had such a hard time making friends, who'd been so scared of his first day of school, who'd cried so hard when he'd banged his head.

Who'd saved Hoenn singlehandedly from the hands of power crazed maniacs and been sent to the hospital for it. All without me knowing. What kind of mother was I?

"Wallace...?" I was scared. I still vainly hoped that maybe it wasn't him, that maybe he'd just been using the events as a segway.

He wasn't looking at me. "I don't want to make you worry, but I couldn't _not._ "

Unbidden, another memory rose from the back of my mind.

 _The Rocket gangers loomed in front of me. The alley ended in a fence I wouldn't be able to climb even if I could kick my heels off in time._

" _Just toss us the purse and we'll leave. Course if you don't want to cooperate we can do things the hard way too." A grin of yellow teeth made me feel unclean from mere proximity._

 _I knew I should just give them the purse, but dad had just been put on suspension and money was tight. I should, but I just couldn't..._

" _The hard way it is." Another filthy grin._

" _No, please. I don't have much money, just-"_

" _Brutus, Slash!"_

 _No one had time to respond before one of the muggers dropped to the ground with a scream, open wounds on his calves. A short, white pokémon with long claws stood behind him and growled up at the other one before he too dropped._

 _Probably from the coldclock_ _the trainer delivered to the side of his head._

" _Are you okay?" he asked._

 _I snapped partially out of my shock. "Yeah, I… yes I'm fine. Thank you. I wasn't sure what I was going to do."_

" _Glad I got here fast enough. Name's Norman." He offered his hand._

 _I took it. "Connie."_

I married a hero. Should've figured our son would turn into one.

There was nothing I could - _should_ \- do to stop this. I moved to the couch and sat down.

"What happened?"

My little... no. My son. My son started his tale.

(Wallace)

I wasn't sure what was going through Mom's head. She'd gone from disciplinarian to fearful to resignation in the space of a few seconds.

I told her what happened. I admit to downplaying some of the danger, but there was only so much I could do. I only sprained my ankle, not landing on it three times. I only fought Maxie and Tabitha, not getting flashbanged into helplessness afterwards. She just sat on the couch silently, not quite looking at me.

The silence after I finished was much longer than it was supposed to be.

"Mom?"

"Your father's coming home tomorrow. We're going to spend your recovery time together as a family." She said, though to me or herself I wasn't sure.

"Okay." I wasn't about to disagree.

I had no idea at all how these next weeks were going to go.

Boring.

I hated to admit it, I really did. But I'd gotten so used to sleeping somewhere new every few days that waking up at home felt like I was doing something wrong. Three days in and the only interesting thing that had happened was dad's arrival.

Gym leaders didn't just take time off. I must have scared my parents pretty badly for them to get this... clingy.

I was chafing. I felt like an ungrateful brat, my parents were putting their lives on hold just to make sure I recovered properly and didn't go picking fights with any more criminal organizations; and here I was wanting to get back on the road.

So I spent my copious spare time doing the two next best things. I spent time with my team and I helped Birch at the lab.

I mostly went over the data Birch had already entered from my findings and added notes where I could. Now that I'd cooled down a bit, we could also talk about the path May was taking. She'd followed my steps until Rustboro where she'd gone north instead, looping all the way around northern Hoenn before I'd bumped into her in Mauville City. She was originally headed further south, but with the recent events she'd decided to stay in Slateport and work as a volunteer to help with the thousands of people who needed ships to get back home.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

As for my team, we found ways to stay occupied. Minnow unfortunately had to stay in his ball almost all the time. I transferred him to the lab's PC after just a few days so he wouldn't feel the time passing as he was cooped up. For a stopgap, it would do, it sucked, but it would do. Cindy and Mutt were content to hang around Mrs. Fructus and serve as foot warmers in exchange for extra pokéblocks. Her tolerating their company might have had something to do with a certain package of herb seeds that found their way to her doorstep. I let Sylph wander as he chose; he wound up mostly hunting for wurmples in the surrounding forest. Marble developed a taste for sunning herself and spent most of her time on the porch soaking in the sun, wrapped in her scarf as usual.

Imp...

I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting, but this hadn't been it.

I had been in the kitchen cleaning the grout just to find something to occupy my hands. Imp's presence normally hovered at the back of my mind, probing occasionally to see if I was doing anything interesting or had acquired more pokéblocks.

What she was doing now was less probing and more digging a cold finger into the back of my neck. I asked her what she was doing whereupon she mentally shooed me away. This happened several more times to my mounting frustration before I took a strangely deliberate breath and dropped the abused toothbrush in my hand before hobbling myself all the way upstairs.

I opened the door to see her sitting on the floor and glaring up at me. She was also possessively holding the piper's flute.

She continued to glare at me with muted embarrassment as I pieced the information together.

"Were... you trying to play the flute?"

An averted gaze. _'Yes.'_

My mind wandered back to the last and only time I'd had her play. She'd been so on edge I was worried she'd pass out, which was forgivable since I was interfering with her base code when she was already an inch from panic.

In the many ways that could be described I would never have used the word 'pleasant'.

"Why?"

She didn't respond for a second. When she did she rushed a cluster of memories at me, recent enough to still be fresh.

 _The scaled hunter. Close. Too close. Too close to significant group. Need to help. Can't help. Can't-_

 _-Instructions-_

 _Smooth sound makers. Important? Do not Understand. Need to help._

 _Smooth sound makers? Movement. Scaled hunter._

 _Resignation._

 _-In_s-_

 _?_

 _-Ins_ns-_

 _?_

 _Significant human was feeling fear, confusion. Realization._

 _Hesitance. Scaled hunter. Closer. Significant group is afraid. Resignation._

 _A non-psychic psychic. A poorly shaped tool. Discomfort._

-Ǐ͙̼̅̇̀͑ͥ̽̉͝N̉́͠͏̲̦̤̫̞̳͇s̘͇̳͙͓̯̖̗̪̈́ͩ͐͗̈ͥ̑̑͠r͚̯̹̤͈̄́̔͐ͅƯ͖̞̜̲͕ͩ̒ç̯͎̯̯͕͈̖ͬ̀ͮ̑͒͘S̢̛̳̩͎͆̈̏͒ͮ̂̈ḫ̷̞͎̓̇ͯͨ͐̒ͪ̒N͌̍͐ͣ̓̀̋͏͉͓̫s̷͈͎̼̞̗̥̲ͪ̏ͧ̊̉ͩͫ͑ͦ-

 _Something... understood?_

- _I̷̥̱̰n͉̞s̠̙͚̱̮ͅt͖r̦͖̭̥͉͜u͏͖̭͉̦̤̩̠c͙͟t̛̮̫̤͖̯i͟o̥̮n͉̪͎s̞̟̣_ -

 _Strange. Alien. The poorly shaped tool needed to be used to understand them. It was uncomfortable._

 _Scaled hunter._

 _It was a kind of discomfort that thoughts do not hold. The kind that takes two minds to even feel. Impossible to remember._

 _I failed the instructions. They were uncomfortable too._

 _I almost brought the scaled hunter to the significant group. To the most vulnerable member of the significant group, the precious human._

 _But when I followed them correctly, the uncomfortable instructions made calm. We were safe again._

 _The smooth sound makers calmed us in the hard box that shook us._

 _The smooth sound makers focused us after the cold-angry man stabbed our eyes and ears with light._

 _I could barely help when I needed to help most. This way I could always help._

It all hit me all at once, less a dam breaking and more like someone planting a hand on your face and pushing really hard. I wobbled on my crutch for a moment as I absorbed the... input.

I didn't want to teach her, I'd only forced her to do that in the most dire of circumstances. I may not have understood just how _afraid_ she'd been until now, but teach her how to hold her breath?

 _Teach another person how to stop their own heart?_

I was so unqualified the humor didn't even touch me.

"Imp. This could kill you."

She just gripped the flute tighter with a stubborn hum. We glared at each other for what must have been several minutes.

' _She's going to keep trying. You know that. Would you rather her try it under your supervision or when you're not going to be around?'_

"Imp, get out of my head or I really will stop considering teaching you."

The presence grumpily receded.

A point in her favor, she would rather be taught than figure it out on her own. I probably could keep her from trying, I knew what it felt like now when she was trying to get at my dive reflex.

 _But..._

When I'd thrown myself into the middle of the whole Mt. Chimney fiasco it wasn't because I'd wanted to be safe or happy. It was because I'd wanted to _help_.

Imp avoided my gaze from the floor where she still sat, possessively holding the glass implement.

 _She wants to help too._

I sighed.

"Alright. You win. But if we're going to do this we're going to do it right. I'll find a psychic who knows what they're talking about, and only then will we see about teaching you to play."

To the surprise of no one. I did not get either of my parent's permission to leave in search of said psychic. Not that I even knew where to start.

We spent a lot of time together and went on more than a couple of picnics during my recovery.

Talking with Dad was weird. He still felt like the gym leader I'd always known him to be, but for some reason I didn't find that as imposing as I used to. It felt almost like I was talking _to_ him. Not up to him or for him like I realized I had been. Maybe part of it was that I'd beaten three of his colleagues already. In terms of ranking, he and Flannery were tied next on the list.

I tried not to think about that too much.

Time around Mom was weird for different reasons. The easy carefree conversations were awkward and lopsided, like a glove that was missing a finger or a car with a flat tire, and the reason for this sudden distance continued to evade me. I loved Mom, so I was a bit distressed when I realized I couldn't even hold a conversation with her anymore.

"It's because you're growing up."

I whipped my head around fast enough to tweak my neck.

"Ow. Oh, hi Dad. What was that?" I knew perfectly well that he'd read me better than Imp.

"Your mother's still coming to grips with the fact that you're her son now, not her little boy who needs to be protected. Give her time and be patient. This is hard. For both of us." Dad sat down next to me and I put the polishing pad I'd been using on Marble down on the porch.

I didn't know what to say, it didn't sound like there was anything to be said. Though that might have just been the guilt weighing on my neck.

"So what are you going to do after you get healed up?" Dad switched topics to my relief.

"I thought I'd keep going on my expedition. I was only about halfway done anyways and I haven't even visited any of the eastern islands." I picked up the pad and went back to polishing Marble's plates. She gave a happy ping and rolled onto her side.

"You give any thoughts to just calling it quits?"

Something very heavy gripped my spine and made me go rigid. A sibling to the feeling of panic.

No, I hadn't. And frankly the thought of just... quitting made me almost feel nauseous. I'd been getting more and more stir crazy but I'd managed with the thought that I'd be on the road again soon enough.

Once again, Dad read my thoughts as quickly as I had them.

"That's what I figured. And what if your mother and I forbade you from it?"

The feeling gave up the pretense and edged all the way into proper panic.

"Dad?" It was the only word I could form. But I had to say something.

"You left details out. That fight was closer than you admitted, even if Aqua threw a wrench in the gears before you showed up. What would have happened if you'd lost? You could have been kidnapped, you could have become a hostage, _you could have died_."

It was weird. I'd broken out into a cold sweat when Dad had threatened to keep me from my expedition; but when he laid out the consequences it all seemed so... small. That wasn't the only time I'd risked death, and I worked my out of it both times I had. I was still afraid of dying to be sure, I just knew my way around a little better.

"Would you have had me do something different?"

Neither of us said anything.

Dad let out a breath, like a balloon deflating. Whatever he was about to say, he didn't want to say it.

"Go get your team. It's time we both make sure of something."

I had avoided looking directly at him until now. I turned to look my dad full in the face.

Gym Leader Norman looked back at me. I only just noticed the balls on his belt.

He wanted to battle.

It was not an epic struggle. There were no swaths of dragonfire or still burning craters left in the aftermath. There were a few fresh holes from Mutt and some ground had still been torn up by Minnow, but the field would be back to normal in a week or two.

Marble had proven almost unbreakable, powering her way through three of dad's team on her own.

Brutus had been a good deal harder, being the first non-electric type to beat Minnow in a fight. And finish off Marble, and beat Mutt straight up.

Technically Minnow had also lost to Missy, but that didn't count.

It was one of the secrets about trainers that wasn't really secret at all. Every trainer had a favorite. Mine was Imp with Mutt as a close second; they were my first. The ones who had proved to me you could get bye by being kind and patient. Dad's favorite was Brutus.

But like I said, it was not the epic struggle it should have been. Sylph finished the job by just being too fast to hit. Another wing attack joined the score of scratches that marred the slaking's coat. Brutus fell.

Why was it that my best fights always seemed to leave me feeling like the worst person afterwards?

"If you can beat me in battle then there's nothing more for me to teach you." Dad said, almost too quiet for me to hear. It didn't sound like he was talking to me.

It was an almost alien sensation when I suddenly understood what was going through Dad's head.

 _He tried to teach me when I was younger but I still didn't want to learn, but I still got strong enough to beat him. He doesn't think he's the reason I got stronger. He thinks he wasn't there._

 _He wasn't._ I pushed the thought out of my head. _He did everything he possibly could. It was a matter of circumstance, not neglect._

"Dad, you know that's not true. Look at me, I'm just a kid doing his best, I have no idea what I'm doing."

He gave me a smile I had never quite seen before. "See? You're already thinking like an adult. Let's get to Oldale and get our teams patched up."

Only one other thing of note happened during my recovery.

May's mother approached me as I was exiting the lab, filling my time by processing some of the mountains of data Birch had on the local zigzagoons.

"Wallace? Can I bother you for a moment?"

This was already not going how I'd expected it to.

"Of course. What can I do for you?" I answered automatically, my gears still clicking after her polite introduction.

She drew in a breath and had an expression of someone who just took a bite of bad egg. "I need to apologize. For May. I saw the video of how... all of this started. I didn't want to accept it, I thought maybe you'd been antagonizing her, or maybe she'd just had a bad week. But now that I've had time to think there really was no excuse for how she behaved. You even went as far as to leave on a months long expedition just to give her space before she turns right around and leaves too. So, on behalf of my daughter, I am sorry."

It took some effort to force my eyes back into my skull. Mom had made more progress than I'd hoped.

"Ma'am, you don't need to apologize. I know what May was like before I moved here. I got to meet her the day I became an actual trainer. May's competitive and doesn't really know how to slow down, but that doesn't make her a bad person. I bring the worst out of her and I don't know... no. You're being honest. I should do the same.

"May's competitive. But I've been doing so well she felt like she was losing when I didn't even see how it looked like a competition. I didn't _mean_ to, but I _did_ antagonize your daughter. I don't want there to be any bad blood, but after we met in Mauville I not only put my foot in my mouth, I almost chewed it off."

Ellen was giving me a weird look.

"Rambling. Sorry. Suffice it to say, I said some very stupid things to May in Mauville. I doubt we'll ever be friends again. But if you see her before I do, can you tell her I really am sorry? For everything?"

"I think I can do that." Ellen said after a moment. "Anyway, I think I've held you up for long enough. Take care Wallace."

The rest of the time passed in a haze. Dad was passive in a way that worried me, not helped by the fact that I found a winnings case on my bed the night after our battle. Mom seemed to find some kind of equilibrium, but we still never quite managed to get back to our old conversations.

I think this is what people referred to as growing up. It was not at all what it had been cracked up to be.

At Mom's request I stayed around until the brace came off. After that we were all out of excuses.

"Take care of yourself Wallace." Dad said simply.

"And don't you dare forget to visit." Mom joked in a hollow tone.

"Of course. I already told you it would be harder than this to get rid of me." I walked forward and gave them both a hug. "Thanks for talking to Ellen." I whispered to Mom.

"I said I would, didn't I?" I couldn't quite place her tone. "Anyway, you've held up long enough for us two old goats, you have a job to do. Both of you." She shot a look at Dad.

"Suppose I should get back to that then. You take care of each other while I'm off doing important science things, okay?"

They nodded and I mentally poked Imp.

I would be back, but somehow I couldn't shake the feeling of this being a departure of sorts. A final wave and a mental image brought me to the base of Mt. Chimney.

I still hadn't surveyed the area around Lavaridge, so it was as good a place to start as any. I would also need to actually drop by Meteor Falls again since my last visit was cut short. And while I wouldn't admit it I also wanted to see Mt. Chimney for myself.

It was hard to be objective, but it might have even been a little worse.

Nothing for me to do about it though, I let my team back out and started towards Lavaridge.

What I knew about Lavaridge painted it as a fairly idyllic little town, similar to Verdanturf. Hot springs, lots of vegetation, a nice view of Mt. Chimney, etc. The town I saw was not like that. There were jets of either white smoke or steam racing into the sky from the direction of the springs, technicians were running around like panicked worker ants, and there was not one person who looked looked like a resident anywhere in sight.

I avoided the town itself where I could. I stayed around the surrounding forest and did what research I could with my mind elsewhere. Research was also made harder by the fact that the increased activity had scared away what pokémon had remained after the almost-eruption.

The forest was too quiet. It put me on edge, not to mention that the only data I had was that there was no data.

I really should have just teleported to Meteor Falls, Wattson had told me that there really wasn't much to be done about the volcano. I wandered back to Lavaridge anyways. I still didn't really know what I could do so I sought out anyone who looked like they were giving orders instead of taking them.

After some wandering I found someone giving orders but in a black vest and jeans instead of the utilitarian uniforms so many of the other people had been wearing. I was debating whether or not I should approach when she caught sight of me and made the decision for me.

She gestured the last worker away and strode purposefully towards me. "Are you Wallace?"

"Yes." The directness of her approach caught me off guard. And frankly between the narrow build and young face she did not seem like the person who should be giving orders.

Like I was one to talk.

She nodded at my response. "Wattson told me about you. Follow me and we can find somewhere better to talk." She turned and started striding purposefully towards one of the nearby buildings. We got about halfway there before she faltered. "Oh, I'm Flannery, by the way. I'm the gym leader for... around here."

I quirked an eyebrow at her as she forcibly resumed her authoritative gate. I really didn't want to judge a book by its cover, but she did not come across as a real gym leader. Her powerful face looked and sounded like a mask, her stumble just now proved it was.

I was glad I'd dropped by, she seemed like she needed help.

We made our way to the gym which had apparently been repurposed as a staging platform for dealing with Mt. Chimney. People parted in front of Flannery as she led me to her office. I wasn't sure if she was aware of how audible her sigh of relief was.

"Right, so you're the guy who stopped Magma from setting Chimney off?" She'd adopted a more casual posture that seemed more in line with her attire.

I nodded. "Not all by myself, but I was the one who got the meteor away from Magma."

"Yeah, I'd heard Aqua showed up too. Could've been a real shitshow if no one else stepped up in time, and on a personal note I need to thank you for saving my grandpa's gym. Lavaridge would've been the first to go if Chimney had given up the ghost."

"I'm just glad my intervention actually helped. I mean, I had little to no idea of what I'd be facing on top of Chimney. I could have just made things worse."

She waved a dismissive hand at me. "You saw something going wrong and you charged headfirst in to solve it. The world needs more people like that, not fewer. I'd give my ponytail just to get the chance to give Archie a good what for, and that would absolutely make things better.

"Anyway, I didn't drag you in here to bore you with my fists-first philosophy. I was actually wondering if you could give me your account of events. Wattson had to abbreviate things a bit given our company at the time."

I complied, giving as many details as I could while becoming acutely aware of my still slightly sore ankle. I also had a thin, curved scar on the back of my right hand but that made me feel more awesome than injured.

I'd been engrossed enough in my tale that I didn't notice Flannery's face until the end of it. Her first question caught me off guard.

"So Tabitha didn't really slow you down much?"

"Uhh, well I take no shame in saying that I cheated like a cheating cheater. But no, she didn't. Archie was the bigger threat of the two."

There was something in her expression, and the mixture of emotions I was getting through Imp...

 _Regret and curiosity in almost even ratios._ Something flickered up like angry coals, vaguely the shape of determination.

"Tabitha's my mom."

(Flannery)

I wasn't sure I could put it into words why I trusted this kid- Wallace with what was in effect my darkest secret. But I felt I'd made the right choice when I read his face. Surprise, a second more thorough analysis of myself, but no fear, no mistrust.

It wasn't like he was hard to read either. He wore his heart on his sleeve. I liked him.

"Oh." He said after a moment.

"So I suppose I should tell you the actual reason I wanted to borrow you. I don't have a job for you, I'm afraid; my problem is having too many people to manage, not too few. What I was actually wondering was if you'd be willing to fight me."

I cringed internally at my word choice. I'd said what came to my mind, not what 'a proper gym leader' would say. Too submissive.

Dear old grandpa. I didn't want the job, but I wanted him to leave it more. He deserved a decade more retirement than he got waiting for me to grow up. Maybe it was unfair that I got groomed into the next gym leader, but it's not like either of my parents were up to the job.

I should probably be listening for Wallace's answer or something. At least it didn't look like he'd given it yet. What he _was_ giving me was a very curious look.

"Why?"

The question wasn't combative or anything, just 'I'm trying to figure out what you want from this'.

"The short version is that I want to see if I stand a chance of beating my mom if we ever cross paths."

He kept his inquisitive look. Stupid smart people, always wanting pertinent details.

"The long version is that I've had a grudge against my mother since she abandoned me with my pushover dad as a toddler. Dad dropped my ass with grandpa and didn't even look back. Didn't take my mom leaving very well. Even if I can't beat you, I want your honest opinion if I can give my piece of shit genetic matriarch the beating she deserves." I felt no need to veil my view of the matter. Wallace might be young, but I would trust his advice.

It was easy to tell he didn't like my reasons. Not many people seemed to.

"Alright. On two conditions."

I raised an eyebrow. He didn't seem like he'd be the kind to barter for an advantage.

"One, I get your number."

My eyebrow rose further and I allowed a smile to cross my face. He had no idea how that actually sounded. I saw the moment he realized his word choice by his entire body going rigid.

"Er, I'm trying to- I mean-"

"Relax, I was planning on giving it to you anyway." I probably shouldn't have winked at him, but watching him crumple in embarrassment was entirely worth it.

He took a minute to regain some amount of composure. The kirlia in his pack leaned around and patted him on the head, like a silent 'there there'. It was adorable.

"My second condition." His tone was serious again. "Tell me. If we fight, and I win, and I say you'd lose to - Tabitha. What happens next?"

I bristled a bit instinctively. I could tell he'd almost said 'your mother'. He'd caught himself but it'd been close. As for the question itself, I wanted to snap at him. I'd been training for years. I was young for a gym leader but I was no less powerful for it. Roxanne was just as old as me and she was stuck all the way at the bottom of the ladder.

But that wasn't an answer, and that was exactly why he'd asked. Get the potential anger out of the way now.

So we wouldn't leave on bad terms. He was smarter than I'd given him credit for, which said something.

I took a moment to actually ponder the question itself.

"If I'm not strong enough? Not much changes either way. This is my gym and someone needs to watch Chimney. Me wanting to fight my mother doesn't change the fact that someone from the League needs to be here and there really isn't an excuse for it to be anyone else when I've already set up shop. I'll stay here and prepare for another attack I guess." Now that I thought about it, hearing a 'yes' would have been just as bad. I'd just chafe harder at being stuck here.

A situation with no good outcomes and he'd headed it off from the start. He wasn't bartering for an advantage, he was preventing an unexpected loss. Yeah, he needed to do more, not less.

I took the moment while he digested my answer to bring up my contact information and slide my nav across the desk.

"Now then, about that battle."

(Wallace)

I could see why she'd ranked right next to my dad. Her torkoal had battled Imp all the way to a standstill, and Imp's range was really the only thing that let her get that far. I suspected the arena floor had not been glazed with glass when it was constructed. The volcanic turtle had gone straight past fire and was just producing swaths of plasma harsh enough for me to cover my face all the way back at the trainer's circle.

It was a humbling reminder that a pokémon did not have to be big to be powerful. Minnow however helped me prove that size and strength were not mutually exclusive.

Imp broke the charge and Minnow dealt with everyone else.

It was kind of funny though, the most important thing about this fight only occurred after it was over. My evaluation.

We stood next to the healing tray, watching the computer do its work.

"So. What's the verdict?"

I didn't say anything for a moment. "I can't say." She bristled and opened her mouth. "Not _won't_ , can't. When I fought Tabitha I stacked everything as far in my favor as I possibly could. I beat her pretty quickly but that battle was hardly in a vacuum like this one. If you fought her, I really don't know who would win; but I can promise it would be _very_ close. Down to circumstance - which team was fresher, exact composition, that sort of thing."

Flannery wanted a better answer than that. I'm glad she didn't push for one, because I didn't have one.

I let my team back out once the tray was finished. "I'm not sure how many teleporters the League has on call, but feel free to add me to that list if you find anything."

"Heh, I can only wish. There's almost no chance they're dumb enough to make another move on Chimney with the number of guards and officers we have around here now. I appreciate the thought though.

"Oh, shoot. I almost forgot something, wait here." She turned and darted back through the gym doors, ignoring the service people who were already starting to collect around her.

I stood on the doorstep of the gym and fidgeted, at least one of the workers was giving me a sour look.

A mercifully short time later Flannery came back out and threw something at my face that I was not quite fast enough to catch. I couldn't really help but observe that it was made of metal and of non-negligible mass.

By the time I finished refocusing Flannery was vocally apologizing.

"Shit. Are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"I've had worse." I waved her off and brought a hand up to rub my abused nose, glancing down at the offending projectile. "Badge?"

"Yeah, and your winnings. Probably should've... handed... them to you instead."

"It's fine, we'll just consider this even for my foot-in-mouth earlier." I responded with a smile.

"Yeah, okay. Anyway, I shouldn't hold you up any more than I already have, I'm sure Wattson has you doing something important. But when all this blows over feel free to drop by. Lavaridge is much nicer when the volcano's being cooperative."

"I look forward to it."

Imp had already been paying attention so a name and a picture was all it took to vanish.

I could tell Birch had wanted more data on Meteor Fall Fields but didn't want to ask for it after seeing what notes I _had_ accumulated. Which was good, because I was not going to set foot in that deathtrap of a valley again without equipment, backup, and a very good reason. I still had no earthly idea why I had actually seen _buildings_ there, there could not possibly be a good reason to live or work in proximity to the horrid, god forsaken patch of-

So I ported to Meteor Falls proper. I'd been here for all of five minutes last time before I'd had to save the world and it was one of the places I'd looked forward to most. Also, the pokémon here might be from space.

I probably should have planned a little further ahead than that. The central area of Meteor Falls wasn't actually very big at all, maybe a half hour walk from one end to the other. Aside from the collection of trivia I'd collected about the very strange geological formation, all I knew about the area was that there was a note on the danger rating exclusively for a dragon type called 'salamence' that had set up shop.

The only information was that the cliff on the north end of the falls was _off limits_.

I made my way to the north end.

 _I'm sure this little glass flute will help protect me._ He thinks optimistically. Actually though I made sure to keep everyone in my team but Imp in their balls and ready to teleport at a pin dropping.

On the way to the cliff that supposedly inhabited the regional dragon type the trail degraded into outright bouldering. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, but after I left the trail something felt... off.

Like I was being watched.

"Imp, feel anything?"

She hummed and pointed my eyes to one of the nearby boulders. Looking at it more thoroughly made me realize it was an odd shape, an almost perfectly symmetrical crescent. It was also lying conspicuously _on top_ of the other rocks.

I gave it a scan and peeked at my pokédex.

' _Lunatone. Rock/Psychic type.'_

There wasn't much in the description other than Lunatone being nocturnal and strangely apathetic to people and other pokémon. Looked like I was going to need to do some night watching.

That was for later, for now I had Imp guide me around the living rocks to avoid stepping on anyone. She seemed almost distracted, absently guiding me right up to one of the slumbering rocks. I only avoided stepping on it by recognizing the shape.

We gradually made our way towards the cliff. What I would guess to be a hundred straight feet from the base and I started hearing sounds I couldn't seem to put in context.

It was like someone dropping cannonballs onto a stone floor, but more... fleshy? I staked out a larger boulder and climbed to the top of it so I could see what was causing the sound.

I looked up just in time to see a small bipedal pokemon with a grey head and blue body get thrown from the top of the cliff. I couldn't help but watch in horror as it thrashed wildly in the air before vanishing from sight with a crunc-

*Clang*

... What?

I kept watching with muted horror being superseded by curiosity. After a brief quiet the pokémon that had been thrown off staggered back up on top of one of the rocks, looking dazed but not visibly harmed.

None of this was making sense. Unless these pokémon were outlandishly durable or had evolved specifically to resist being thrown off of cliffs then it should be at least a little injured. And it didn't even seem agitated after being attacked.

It had visible, pointed teeth implying a carnivorous diet and carnivores tended to be more aggressive, so maybe I was just witnessing a territorial dispute? But then why had the impact made the same sound as earlier?

I got the answer in the form of another little blue pokémon getting thrown-

No, not thrown off. They were _jumping_ off.

 _Nature, I know you have some pretty convoluted methods of improving on your designs, but really. What the hell is this?_

I kept watching until I was certain that these blue lemmings were in fact doing what I thought they were doing, because this would be a pretty embarrassing field note unless I was sure. My next problem was getting close enough to scan any of them. They didn't group up, but they were all hanging around the cliff and if they were hostile I didn't want to get outnumbered.

This was going to take a while.

I found a nook near the base of the cliff where they were climbing back up that proved sufficient for my needs without getting spotted. Getting up the cliff was a little trickier since I didn't want to try climbing it in the company of a dozen questionably friendly carnivorous cliff dwellers. I wound up just heading down to the west end of the cliff where none of them where... cliff diving.

I discovered the reason for this when I got to the top. The terrace formed a small ledge against the larger rim that circled all of meteor falls. This was also apparently the salamence had made its den.

Or at least I sure as shit hoped the thing asleep in front of me was the dragon, because if it got worse than this...

I very _very_ quietly hoisted myself over the edge of the cliff. The enormous blue lizard gave a rumbling snore and shifted but didn't appear disturbed. The two options that came to mind were sneaking close enough to scan and risk waking it, or use the flute to try and earn its trust enough to approach.

I didn't trust my reflexes in case I failed a sneak attempt, I pulled out the flute and gave a gentle whistle.

Nothing. A little louder then.

Still nothing. I felt a little sheepish as I put the flute away. Guess stealth would be fine if deliberately making noise didn't wake it up.

I had to get much closer than I would like to the sleeping dragon to scan it, but once I did I couldn't help but notice its wings. They were rigidly held out from the back and didn't look like they'd bend at all; and either it had some weird coloration or the wings were completely solid.

Curiosity edged me closer, caution made me double check that Imp was ready to teleport. Five feet away from the red appendages I made myself stop. They looked almost porous, like bone or a dry sponge.

I tinkered with my scanner for a second before going back over the wings, this was one of the settings I'd never thought I'd actually use on the scanner. I studied pokémon, not their physiology. But this was too interesting to pass-

Something rammed into the side of my leg. It wasn't hard enough to knock me over and I managed to stumble backwards, but I couldn't quite muffle my yell of surprise. I glanced down and saw what looked like a large egg with four legs and a small opening where I took the face to be.

It just stood there after ramming me and glared so I moved to scan it before every hair on the back of my neck stood up.

The salamence wasn't snoring.

(Awake dragon) + (dragon's den) + (proximity to what might be a dragon's egg) =

 _Imp. Now'd be good._

The jerk was much harder and faster than usual, but if the actual explosion I heard right after landing was any indication the alternative was much worse. I'd been plopped down right back where I'd teleported this morning.

I glanced down at my pokédex. Information on bagon, salamence, and shelgon; but if I understood this correctly...

They were all the same pokémon in different evolutionary states.

... _Huh. Well I'll have to make this data count cause sneaking up on a sleeping dragon almost got me fried. Let's never do that again._

For now though, it was starting to get dark so I decided to pitch camp. It had been a long day.

The story that is told

By a severely flattened toad,

Is of evidential failure

In attempts to cross the road.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I keep being indecisive on how much I want to show of the actual collecting data part of the expedition. On one hand it's boring to write and probably boring to read, on the other it's something of a focal point since it's kinda this story's schtick. Feedback appreciated, let me know if you want more or less of the pseudoscience I keep spitting out. Now, onto the chapter.

Chapter 10: Sunlight, Sand, and Salt Water.

The next few days in Meteor Falls were a little more nerve wracking than I had anticipated. In retrospect - and in prospect, really - sneaking into a dragon's nest was not something that supposed to end _well_.

I had gotten away, so now the salamence was searching high and low for me. I'd had to hide several times and teleport to safety on two separate occasions.

I was just glad it was loud. If it was that fast and _quiet_?

I kept my head down during the next few days, doing my research in the evening and at night. Which meant I also got to watch the lunatones wake up.

If I hadn't checked on the notes I'd taken I might have mistook the whole thing as a dream.

Evening fell and the first thing I noticed was a swarm of orange and yellow stones drifting down from the rim of the central basin of meteor falls, far away enough that I'd missed them until now. They drifted as though held up by some invisible current. They eventually spread out and floated to the shaded ground. One came close enough for me to get a better look.

It was roughly the same size as a lunatone with the same perfectly circular eyes, apparently closing already given their squinty look. The central rock was a burnt orange and perfectly smooth with jagged spires of yellow stone jutting away from the body's meridian. If I unfocused my eyes it almost looked like an image of the sun carved from colored rock.

Just like how lunatones looked vaguely like crescent moons.

The warm colored rocks drifted slower and slower as they neared the entire ground like a blanket of pebbles. They kept slowing to an almost complete stop before all at once every one closed its eyes and dropped the remaining inches.

There was a singular 'clack' that rang through the basin.

I'd never appreciated the expression 'then the world held its breath' before. There was always _something_ breaking the silence.

Now? Even the waterfalls had gone utterly quiet, I couldn't even hear my own heartbeat. The world held its friggin breath.

Then the lunatones started drifting off of the ground, like wind pulling sand off of concrete in impossibly slow motion-

Imp wasn't in my pack. I wasn't sure when she'd left but I hadn't felt it.

I tore my eyes away from the sight with startling effort and almost immediately spotted her. She was standing less than a foot away from one of the levitating stones as it slowly cracked its eyes open.

She hummed, not vocally, just a vague psychic question. It was still deafening in the all-pervasive silence.

Every rock in two hundred feet _stopped_ and turned to face her. I became acutely aware of how very badly outnumbered we were.

I mentally reached for Imp but she wasn't focusing on me, it was like trying to shout against the wind or throw a stone up a cliff. She didn't respond, only gazing intently at the closest rock.

After a very long moment the closest one drifted closer and made a sound that neither throat or language could replicate; the only I can compare it to was the inaudible component of Imp's hums, but even that felt inadequate.

They conversed, I think.

After a minute or so of exchanges the rock drifted the rest of the way forward and tapped its beak on Imp's heartpiece.

Whatever my bond with Imp was, it apparently didn't reach far enough for me to sense what happened. Something _did_ happen though if Imp suddenly staggering back was any indicator. I started towards her slowly, if it had been an attack of some sort I didn't want to provoke anything more.

The stones that had been watching us turned away and resumed their collective drifting. I closed the rest of the distance to Imp.

 _Injured?_

She sent the vague impression of a negative response back, she was still focused on the rocks though.

 _Imp?_

' _One moment.'_

She slowly stood before closing her eyes.

And levitating.

She just floated off the ground like the rocks and hovered in the air without any apparent effort. Then she looked back at me and gave me a shit eating grin.

There was the Imp I knew.

"Great, so you can fly now. I am absolutely confident that you will employ this new skill with the appropriate levels of respect and grace."

Imp just hovered in a wobbly circle around me with a giddy hum, ignoring my comment. I couldn't blame her, if it was half as cool as it looked then it was probably pretty damn awesome.

I watched the lunatones drift up to the rim where I could only barely make them out. It was hard to tell when sound had started trickling back, but the waterfalls were roaring as usual again.

Reluctantly I moved to scan a few of the sun stone things and start on my notes. I wanted to just keep watching the little orbiting moons, but there was data to be had.

I hung around a full day longer than I should've, but the ritual was too beautiful to pass up. If the opportunity presented itself I would like to come back here someday.

That said, I still had an entire desert and island chain to survey. It was time to hit the road again. And by 'hit the road' I mean teleport. It took conscious effort to make sure I only used Imp for transit when the alternative was too impractical or dangerous.

We landed in front of the little shop south of Chimney Desert that had been closed when I'd first left Mauville. I could see a few people through the windows, so I made my way in.

It wasn't unlike a standard pokémart, but the wares were obviously selected with a mind to the surrounding environment, to the point of boasting a custom pokéball that worked better in the sand. I would have been skeptical even if I ever planned on using it. 'House Made' pokéballs were always a little on the rickety side.

Whatever the case, I collected five sets of sand goggles and a weather cover. Numels were well adapted to deserts already and Marble was made of steel so I doubted sand would bother her. Everyone else, including myself, needed a little extra protection from the sandstorms I would doubtlessly find myself in. I was just glad they sold goggles in Minnow's size; I might actually get to let him roam a little where he couldn't cause too much trouble. I also bagged a few generic treats since I was running low on pokéblocks and hadn't had a chance to process the berries I'd been collecting.

It was the most I'd spent since I'd started my journey, but with the winnings I'd been earning at an almost impossible rate I was set for months even if I kept spending like this.

Not to sound conceited, but it was almost _easy._ I'd had no idea what I was doing three months ago when I'd first left Littleroot, but now I had five of the eight badges for the Hoenn League and more money than I knew what to do with after a lone afternoon of semiformal training. I'd first thought that I might be getting an easy show, that the gym leaders didn't really give their all for the challenges.

Then I'd started really fighting Aqua. Even a moron would give his all if cornered doing something illegal. I'd plowed through Magma on top of Chimney too. Surprise or no, that didn't dismiss my victories against Magma's leaders. 

Make no mistake, I wanted to be a pacifist. From day one I've done what I could to take the less violent road without breaking a promise or putting other people at risk. Even so I've gotten better at fighting.

 _It's because I care more about keeping people safe than not hurting them._ I was a peacekeeper first and a pacifist second. In a perfect world they'd be the same, but I'd already had to threaten to kill someone just to keep them from setting off a volcano.

This world wasn't perfect, not even close.

As for my inexplicable increase in skill, was I just that good? Did my almost-pacifistic training just work so much better? Was I lucky?

I didn't know, but I had three more gyms to best before I could really be sure of myself, before I could guarantee I wasn't just some lucky kid. There was the League Challenge after that, but I didn't want to put my team through that even if it became possible.

For now, I needed to focus on the desert in front of me.

I'm not sure if it was me who kept tempting Fate or Fate that kept making sure I was paying attention. I'd barely gotten five minutes down the trail when I'd spotted a sandstorm on the horizon. My nav had said that the storms in Chimney Desert were often and weak, safe to walk through with the proper protection.

Seemed a little early, but there was nothing to do but double check everyone's goggles and wrap my cover around myself a little tighter. And on a lighter note I was willing to bet I looked pretty awesome in my tan cover and goggles riding Minnow into a sandstorm.

I was just nudging Minnow forward again when Imp hummed urgently and floated out of my pack. I brought Minnow to a stop again and watched with an undertone of jealousy as Imp floated around in front of my little caravan.

 _Danger?_

' _Sand-mind'_

Well, glad that was cleared up. I hopped off of Minnow's back and approached the sand where she hovered. Once I got within a few feet she motioned for me to stop.

' _Territorial'_

I stopped. _Pokéblock?_

She looked up at me.

 _For the sand-mind, greedyguts. Help me coax it out and you'll get some too._

I was prodigiously bad at judging distance, but I was fairly certain we had some time before the storm got to us. Imp deflated a little at my response before returning to her conversation.

A minute or so passed before she turned back to me. _'Afraid. Senses Sea-Hunter Dragon. Hiding.'_

 _Sea-hunter? Oh, Minnow._

"Hey, Minnow. Mind staying in your ball for a minute? It'll only be for a moment."

He lowered his head to my level, the general gesture of affirmation we'd developed. I tossed him a clump of pokéblocks before pulling him into the device.

I turned back to Imp and did a double take. I hadn't heard a sound but there was... something standing next to her.

It had a tan body with two arm-flipper appendage things and red traceries that highlighted designs and features I took to be the eyes. It kinda looked like a poorly made top.

After recovering I pulled out the usual assortment of pokéblocks and treats and started slowly approaching. The motions of coaxing pokémon close enough to scan had become one of my favorite parts of the day. Every single one was a little different, handled the interaction in a distinct way.

Granted, there were exceptions to my enjoyment. A certain kind of snake came to mind.

It was balancing like Imp did when she was really focused. Probably a psychic type of some sort, dual rock or ground or something. It still hadn't opened its eyes either so it probably used tremorsense or something similar in lieu of sight. It _had_ been hiding underground, after all.

I sat down and tossed the pokéblocks a couple feet in front of the sand dweller. Imp swooped by and snatched the pink one off of the sand, she immediately regretted the decision of swallowing it by coughing up a dusting of sand.

 _As a psychic, you should've seen that coming._

She didn't have enough digits to give me a proper middle finger, but she made a valiant effort anyway. Meanwhile the tan pokémon levitated the blue one to its face and vanished it. Some psychic types didn't have mouths, so they managed by teleporting food straight to their stomach. I thought it was cool. Weird, but cool.

No idea how they taste the stuff.

I tossed a few more dry ones and shuffled my way closer. It was already close enough to scan, but I wanted to-

The sandstorm had gotten closer while I hadn't been paying attention. I scanned the pokémon and pulled my cloak tighter just in time for the wall of dust to get close enough for me to start making out individual grains.

It's hard to appreciate just how _big_ these storms could get. The dust took up a full quarter of my sphere of vision. Hell, it looked big enough to see from orbit.

It hit us a moment later.

The closest thing I can liken it to is stepping into unexpectedly fast water, you could brace against it but it took a surprising amount of effort. The parka-jacket-cloak thing I'd bought pressed against my front as the sand and dust plowed into me.

Imp was sending indignant signals at the spontaneous weather and jerkily floated behind me and vanished entirely into my pack, shamelessly using me as shelter. Somewhat _unexpectedly_ the pokémon I'd scanned hadn't vanished back into the ground but just started aimlessly tracing around on the sand, doing whatever blind psychic sand hermits did in their spare time.

It might have been drawing, but with the storm any mark was erased before it was even finished. As curious as I was though, just standing up was proving difficult to I started back to my team. Everyone looked to be doing fine except Sylph who was having the obvious trouble of being airborne in a sandstorm. I would have called him down and asked if he wanted to stay in his ball if he hadn't flopped down on top of me before I got the question out.

Once I got him back in his ball, I looked at my choices. The rest of the team was minimally affected by the weather, in part due to the goggles I was making them all wear. I could seek shelter and try to wait the storm out, or I could try to keep travelling and collecting data in spite of the weather.

I decided to keep going, I was fairly certain _I_ could wait the storm out, so if anyone else started to suffer I could recall them and keep going. If things got much worse I could always fall back on Imp, I didn't want to rely on that but I couldn't just ignore it either.

I hopped back onto Minnow's back and nudged him forward into the whirling sand.

I was hesitant to make a claim as direct as the one I was forming, but the more data I found the more it seemed to be supported. Chimney Desert didn't seem to have as much of an overlaying ecosystem as it did groups of perfectly self-supporting pokémon. The single most complicated relationship I found was a colony of sandshrew - which was strange in and of itself as they were often solitary creatures - being hunted by sandpit diggers called trapinch.

Hardly an ecosystem, just pokémon trying their hardest to live in an extremely unforgiving environment. Also worth mentioning were the cacnea. They tended to keep to themselves and just sit in the sun soaking up energy, but they were also very territorial of the two foot radius around themselves.

This was a lesson I had learned the hard way. I was currently in the process of trying to pull the spines out of my legs and only succeeding in further irritating the already very irritated area.

I had also managed to continue the single longest stream of profanity I had ever managed to date.

I sat back in the desert sun, swiping the pained sweat from my brow. "This blows."

There was no way I was making it very far on foot, but I had maybe a mile still in me before I needed to stop. Hugging the desert walls had led me past a small cave a few minutes back, it was probably my best bet for hunkering down and treating my abused limbs.

Hauling myself up from the sand made the skin on my shins tingle angrily, I pulled a breath between my teeth before I started shuffling back the way I'd gone. At the moment I was just glad I'd gotten away from the irate cactus, I was feeling less and less charitable with each step.

I couldn't ride Minnow either, the spines had covered the parts of my legs that rested on Minnow's sides so unless I wanted to remove the skin altogether that seemed like a bad idea. And I didn't want to teleport, that felt like copping out.

I'd gotten about fifty feet before Imp's concerned pings went from worried to forcefully insistent.

' _Pain. Assist? Why are you hurting yourself?'_

 _I AM - OW - FINE I DO NOT KNOW WHAT - OW -YOU ARE - OW - TALKING ABOUT._

Imp was not convinced.

' _Stop'_

 _AM FINE._

Imp started wrestling for control of my limbs suddenly enough that she forced me to stop and lose all of my wonderful momentum.

 _Okay maybe I'm not great, let me get to the cave and I'll fix this. It's only a few minutes-_

The smallest sense of vertigo.

 _No. Imp you aren't a glorified bicycle, I can get there on my own._

' _Hurt. I can help. Let me help.'_ She remained insistent.

 _It's really not that bad, it hurts but in another two days I'll be fine-_

She gave a loud, irritated ringing and pulled herself from my pack to drift to my face and glare at me, her goggles giving her eyes an almost full red color. Our stubbornness battled with shapeless thoughts for a minute.

She threw up her forelimbs with another irritated sound and pivoted to Sylph, I'd let him back out for the temporarily clear weather. She also very pointedly closed the link so I couldn't understand what she was saying.

I was about to start walking again when Sylph gave a cry and took to the air. A few circles got him into position before he swooped down and grabbed my shoulders, almost knocking me over in the process. I staggered forward only to find my feet not making contact with the ground.

Sylph was carrying me. I thought it was both really cool and very surprising for a moment before I remembered something.

 _Golbats are ill-suited to air-transport, while swift fliers they lack the stamina to keep a heavy load in the air for much time._

I wasn't sure when or where I'd read that, what I was more concerned about was the rapidly distancing ground and the strain in Sylph's wingbeats.

"Sylph! Down! You don't need to carry me! Sylph!"

I prayed very hard that the increase in downward momentum was from my command and not the relentless grip of gravity. But I could only ignore slowing wingbeats so much.

"SYLPH PULL U-"

The impacts I'd felt in the cable car had been sharp, bringing pain to the joints that had been forced to absorb the energy. Since I had the fortune of landing on a much higher percentage of my surface area on sand this time, the impact only felt like getting bodily crushed by my and Sylph's collective momentum.

And the spines, can't forget the spines. My shins slammed into the ground and a velocity painful on its own, driving the spines further in and dragging sand into the now bleeding area.

My pride is not injured by saying I screamed into the sand for the next twenty seconds. I was vaguely aware of Sylph's cries and the panicked tone from Imp as the rest of the team caught up to our very brief flight. As for myself, I lay face down on the ground and tried to wrestle the pain into submission.

It took a while.

"Okay... Imp, you... really need... to get... my okay... Okay?" I panted into the sand.

' _Sorrysorrysorrypleasedon'tbehurt'_

"Didn't I tell you? I'm... fine, remember? Don't know what you're talking about."

Oh, I wish I could have seen her face.

' _... Can bat-friend carry you now?'_ She sent an image at the same time that made very little sense to my clouded brain.

 _That... did not look like Sylph._ I heaved myself off of my face and looked around.

It was heartwarming to see my team circled around me, even Minnow as he tried to look like he didn't care, coiled protectively around us.

There was also a frankly enormous purple... bat? Perched on one of Minnow's coils, fidgeting with distressed squeaks.

Did Sylph just evolve? After dropping me?

My stubborn resolve to get this done by myself dissolved like snow in hot water. I'd made them worry bad enough to force a bond-based evolution on one of them.

Best trainer ever, right here.

Needless to say, I ley Sylph carry me the rest of the way to the cave.

Removing the spines was a simple process. Rinse the whole area in warm and then cool water to loosen up the skin _and rinse away the blood_ before gripping the spine as close to the skin as possible and slowly pull it out. Cindy was happy to provide the heat necessary and my canteen held a deceptively large amount of liquid.

I also broke my personal profanity record again. There was no way that wasn't going to leave some scarring after it was done healing. On the bright side, at least they weren't barbed. With how far in they'd gotten, I'd have needed surgical intervention to pull them out if they had.

Silver linings and all that.

I allowed myself to spend the rest of the day and following night just recovering. I wasn't _hurt_ but that had been much more pain than I was used to.

During my downtime I noticed something else. The pale scarf that Marble had not once taken off was visibly torn and had taken an unattractive brown color.

It would seem silk scarves did not mix well with sandstorms, I didn't even need to pick it up to know it was done for.

"Oh Marble, I forgot about your scarf." I twisted a little from my seat and fingered the damaged fabric. Threads parted between my fingers.

She pinged in confusion, craning her head to look at the fabric. I loosened the article and held a damaged end out for her inspection. She gave another confused ping.

' _Wrong?'_

I was a little taken aback. "Remember how it was white when you got it and the ends were even? It's dirty and torn now."

' _Ground-colored. Smells like ground.'_

I wasn't really sure how to take that as a response, I'd expected agitation or disappointment. But apparently dust just gave it character. Oh well, I certainly wasn't going to complain.

I should probably have just rested while my shins recovered but I also made a point of exploring the cave, though not without every one of my team being clingy worrywarts every time I moved. Between navigating with abused legs around an underfoot Mutt I still made a worthwhile discovery.

The entire wall of the cave was _riddled_ with fossils. I was a little surprised I instantly remembered the defossilizer when I recognized the imprinted sediment, but I didn't really have any other strong preexisting connections to fossils so I guess it made some sense.

I took the two most intact ones I could find and flagged the cave's coordinates with my pokénav.

 _I'm glad I can bring two - it would have been really dumb if I'd only been able to bring one for some nebulous reason. I can't even imagine a realistic scenario where that would have been the case. I feel silly for even thinking about it._

I wanted to finish what research I could get done in the desert, but after that I could drop them off at Devon Corp. and earn a few more brownie points. It would also give me an excuse to check back on the other projects. But my legs were starting to throb again so I made my way back to my camp and called it a night.

Another full day in the desert failed to reveal any pokémon I'd missed. I can't say I was all that heartbroken when I finally ported away. It hadn't been as bad as Meteor Fall Meadows, but having to move at a slugma's pace to avoid the apparently _highly explosive_ baltoys and never get within smacking range of the many, many cacnea...

I would not deny claims that I gave a small victory cry after leaving the twitchy dust pit behind.

No reason to waste time. I made my way into the Devon Building. It was... strange. The first time I'd been here I was only just starting really. I'd had no badges, Imp and Mutt were my only companions and I had had only two run ins with Aqua by then. I hadn't acquired any scars yet.

It felt like I hadn't been here in a very long time. The feeling was only amplified when the receptionist had to do a double take and squint before she recognized me.

"Oh... Mr. Wallace?"

I nodded. "I found some fossils while I was heading through Chimney Desert and thought I'd drop them off. I was also wondering if I could check up on the other projects as well if Mr. Sullivan's around."

"I'll give him a call, just a minute."

I took a seat in the waiting room, realizing I'd picked the same one as last time. No old couple with a pikachu this time though, the room was empty save for me and the receptionist. And most of my team.

Sylph's newest evolution made him bodily taller than me so he was going to need to stay in his ball indoors from now on. On the upside though, whatever the evolution had done made him both big and strong enough to ride. That was going on the to-do list next to teaching Minnow how to swim without drowning me and teaching Imp how to play the flutes.

I had no idea how I was going to do any of that.

"Wallace?" A familiar voice asked. I looked up to see Mr. Sullivan wearing the same expression the receptionist had.

"Hey Mr. Sullivan, the defossilizer project still going?"

"Uh, yeah. We haven't had many samples just yet, but I assume you've brought something?"

I nodded and extracted the carefully packed stones, Imp hovering out of the way.

"So... you've been training I see."

"You could say that. I decided to take the League Challenge and some of it was simple necessity, but a lot of it's just been the travelling." I finally got the rocks out of their improvised packing. "There we go. Hope I wasn't too rough on them. Care to lead the way?"

He nodded and made his way back up the stairs. I couldn't help but notice he was much less talkative than last time I'd visited.

(Mr. Sullivan)

"Mr. Sullivan, is something wrong?"

I jerked out of my thoughts at the heavy hum of the bo- Wallace's voice.

"No, nothing's wrong. I'm just a little distracted."

Last time I'd seen him, he was a kid. A mature and intelligent kid, but still a kid. He'd been the one I'd had to bend my pride for to ask for help on two individual occasions, already quite capable of handling himself those months ago.

Now? His light frame had been hardened to a wiry, _lean_ stature that combined with his tan for a striking image. Roxanne didn't hold that much of the room's presence. Hell, not even Mr. Stone himself commanded as much attention as the thirteen year old following my steps - though I imagined part of it was the colorful posse following his.

"I can come back later, if now's a bad time." He offered, the new voice causing a couple of my coworkers to look up for a moment.

"No, no, now's good. I'm just surprised. I was maybe expecting you to have trained a little, but you have a full team with at least two evolutions and I'm willing to bet my coat you have more than Roxanne's badge by this point.

He gave a nervous laugh, more out of habit than actual anxiety. His body language betrayed no such discomfort. "Maybe. To be honest, I just want to make sure I'm strong enough to deal with whatever the world may throw at me."

A redirection. Even now, I'd bet he didn't like being the center of attention. I decided not to press.

"Understandable. Times have been getting pretty rough. That whole business with Mt. Chimney and whatnot. Unbelievable."

"Yeah."

And _now_ came the nerves, of all times. Did he know something? Heck if he was as powerful as his presence implied then he might have even had something to do with it. I hadn't missed the still-red scar on his hand or that he was geared for the desert.

Something to tell Mr. Stone later. He'd been right to want updates on this kid. Well. On Wallace.

I was able to redirect him to Greg's desk before the silence crept into awkward. Wallace put the fossils on the scientist's desk and watched his face light up.

I took my usual spot near the wall where I could listen without intruding. Greg had managed to streamline the process so effectively that the defossilizer was running less than five minutes later.

And this time it wouldn't just be reviving dead plants.

I didn't understand even the simplest science that went into the machine, but I could certainly appreciate the beauty of watching it pull life from a stone that had been dead since before humanity walked on two legs. We'd drawn something of a crowd by the time the process finished.

I'm not sure what to compare the creature to. Maybe a very flat crab or beatle, but neither of those did the strange arthropod scuttling around the output pod justice.

Whatever. As much as I wanted to examine the strange primordial critter, I had one of the many functions of my job to do. Greg was too enamored with having an actual _live_ _fossil_ to work with to pay attention to anyone else, and the rest of the scientists were crowding as close as they could without incurring his wrath.

They were also giving elbow room to Wallace, who surprisingly stood just as tall as most of the lab techs. Wallace himself was trying to shuffle away from the group while getting his own look at the strange creature, and I did not miss that he brought that little scanner of his up to the case and gave his palm a pointed tap. I didn't intervene. If anyone had a right to data here it would be Greg and Wallace.

After the crowd was shooed back to their stations, Wallace and Greg started exchanging information. Apparently the cave where the trainer found the fossils had plenty more. He'd also had the foresight to mark the coordinates of the cave.

To say Greg was happy would be something of an understatement. I hadn't seen the man this elated in years.

Once Wallace had given the other fossil it was clear he had little other reason to be here. I re entered the conversation and helped pry the scientist off of him. It didn't take much more than pointing out that he still had another fossil to work on.

I resumed our talk once we were out of earshot. "Did you want to check up on the other projects? They're both still going, actually. We all thought Jonathan would have given up by now."

"He was the one working on the translator right? Sure, I might even be able to help him some. I have some extra time today and I'm not looking forward to the next leg of my expedition."

I started towards Jon's desk and gave him a look. He did _seem_ like he was doing this expedition against his will. "Been having a hard time lately?"

"What? Oh, no. Well, yes actually, but that's not what I meant. Thing is I need to get to the east side of Route 118 and I hate boats but Minnow doesn't know how to swim with a rider just yet."

 _Minnow?_

I glanced over the colorful shadows that had been tailing him. None of them looked much like water types or swimmers besides. There were two balls at his belt, so maybe he'd gotten another water type?

 _No, he had a zubat with him after he delivered the schematics to Captain Stern, and golbats are pretty big._

One of those balls was for a golbat, and the other was apparently for the gyarados named _Minnow._

This kid must have a pair that he was profoundly unaware of if he really named a gyarados-

Getting off track. I realized we'd been walking in silence for a long moment.

"I'm afraid I don't know of anyone who could help with that. You could always give Slateport a try, though. Goodness knows there's enough water-type trainers in that city." I covered my pause by looking like I'd been pondering the problem.

"I was thinking of Dewford, but it might be too small now that I think about it. I'll do that."

I only nodded before passing him off to Jonathan and taking my spot on the sideline again. This particular interaction was much calmer, but compared to outright resurrection most things would. I was also curious on a more personal level, Wallace's team moved like a single organism, so much so that I had doubts he would benefit much from even a fully functional translator.

All the same, I watched as he conceded to a few tests involving visual barriers and simple questions, 'which side is the blue square on?' and the like. It was also eerie to watch as he communicated with his psychic... kirlia, was it? With his kirlia flawlessly.

Jon was looking similarly impressed. The questions got more and more detailed, 'how many dots are on this paper?' 'what is the picture depicting?'.

"Okay, this is the last one. What is written on the paper?"

There was a moment of quiet where I wished I could see their expressions before the psychic started humming.

"'Go down two blocks and make a left on Richard's Avenue.'" Wallace answered.

The silence was rather heavy.

"Well, uh. That concludes my prepared questions, I'll need to do some analysis before I can come up with any more. Thank you for the data."

"You're welcome, glad I was able to help. Oh, and here's my nav number. Feel free to give me a call when you want me to drop by again. I can't promise I'll be fast, but I'd like to see where this goes."

 _That makes three of us. Four once I update Mr. Stone._

I kept our conversation to harmless chatter while I walked him at last to Dr. Burke. Didn't want to probe during _all_ of our interactions. Suspecting that this stop would be much shorter I allowed myself to hover.

The incident involving Minnow's unexpected evolution had become something of a joke among the staff over the last few months, one which came up several times as Wallace and Burke chatted.

After some discussing Burke managed to convince Wallace to take an updated version of the exp. share. Minnow was too big to keep out all the time and his golbat... Sylph? I couldn't remember, was now suffering a similar problem.

Apparently the newer model just fastened to your belt and linked to all the balls you had there. I wasn't sure why these hadn't gone on market yet, the spontaneous evolution of a magikarp would make for some pretty good advertising.

"As much as I want to get these into production I want to make sure I have all the kinks worked out. I think part of the reason you never realized... uh..."

"Minnow."

"That was it. I think you never realized Minnow evolved because the exp. share was actually reinforcing the structure of the containment field - he couldn't have done a thing until you actually let him out. This model works around that and can link to multiple balls. Field testing it should give me all the rest of the data I need."

That was a fair reason to hold off on production. I waited until they finished with the details before walking him back to the lobby.

"Well, it's been nice talking. And this company still owes you quite a bit so if you ever need anything just give us a call."

He only gave a smile and nod before wordlessly vanishing into empty space. I turned and made my way to my boss' office.

(Wallace)

There were a couple different places where I might be able to find help with Minnow's training, but only one of those had ever actually helped before.

I landed in front of the pokéfan club building. My choice had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was putting off getting in the water again with Minnow as long as I could responsibly manage. And besides, I owed Mrs. Aka a thank you.

Imp only highlighted three people inside, not enough for an entire club meeting so I made my way in. Two of them were gushing to each other as only pokéfans could. I was glad to see that the third person was sitting in one of the chairs brushing a persian.

I started making my way to Mrs. Aka's chair, trying to stay inconspicuous enough to avoid their attention. That I managed to do so said more about their focus than my group's collective stealth.

"You don't need to worry about those two, dear. They only started half an hour ago. It'll be at least another two before they come up for air."

"Never hurts to be careful. But I didn't drop by to practice my stealth, I wanted to see how you were doing. I never got to properly thank you after helping me with Minnow either."

She chuckled. "That's not the only reason you came back to Slateport boy. I can still feel it, too much energy and purpose buzzing around you like a swarm of bees. So what can this old crone do for you now?"

I paused for a moment, closing my mouth and looking a little harder at the old lady who could whip dragons into obedience.

"Well, I was telling the truth when I said I wanted to give a proper thanks. But I also need more help with Minnow and I promised some extra training for two other members of my team that I am unsure of how to provide."

"You need more help with that dragon of yours? Gyarados might be the angry sort but they're not quick to forget their lessons."

"No, no. He's been doing fine pretty much everywhere, he's just... an enthusiastic swimmer."

There was a moment of quiet between us before she started cackling.

"Oh I'd have paid good money to see you try to ride him in the water before he got sea trained, I remember back when-"

She stopped, suddenly looking much more like a feeble old lady. Missy put a paw on her lap and meowed loudly. Mrs. Aka gave the cat a scratch on the scruff before letting out a very tired sigh.

"Nevermind that. What do the other two need training for?"

I decided not to comment. "You remember Sylph? He's gotten big enough to warrant riding lessons too, but I want to make doubly sure I know what I'm doing for that. I've already had to take a multi-week break from a sprained ankle and this could be substantially worse. I also promised Imp I'd teach her how to play the flutes."

She looked a little taken aback. "Well, you do know golbats can't carry riders, right?"

I gave her a knowing smile before letting Sylph out of his ball, the room was big enough I didn't have to worry. His round purple body lay eyelevel to me with his wings folded around his front like a hug. I tossed him a pokéblock and gave him a scratch behind the ear. He gave a happy chirp before examining the room.

"I'm aware."

I really wasn't sure what the deal with crobats was. Zubats were dime a dozen anywhere the sun didn't reach and even some places it did. Golbats were much less common in the wild but it wasn't unheard of for a trainer to have one. Crobats were rare enough that I had actually never heard of them before; they _had_ been catalogued, my pokédex had been able to identify Sylph after his latest evolution, but they just didn't seem to _appear_ anywhere.

I hadn't had the chance to do much research on the topic since he'd evolved, I was hoping to get that done during my stay in Slateport.

"By the Birds. A bond-based evolution with a golbat?" Mrs. Aka stood from her chair and approached Sylph. "May I?"

I wasn't sure which of us she was asking, I nodded anyway. Sylph leaned forward to sniff her offered hand before nibbling on it. Mrs. Aka gave a small chuckle and tossed him a berry before rubbing the top of his head, eliciting a few contented chirps.

"Wallace, do the world a favor and try not to change too much. Now, what was this about flutes?" She asked, not removing her hand from Sylph's head.

"To put a very long story short, I acquired two flutes from Fallarbor Glassblowers and Imp wants to learn how to play them. Trick being she doesn't have the instincts needed to hold her breath properly."

"And what of the 'very long story'?"

I opened my mouth, closed it, thought, then opened it again. "Do you really want the whole thing? We're going to be here for a while."

"Something you should know about old crones like me is that we're always up for another story. Now, take a seat."

 _Possible escape?_

 _You should have worried more about that when you walked in the door to this timetrap of a building._

 _Thanks Brain, that was very helpful._

I sat down and started talking.

The other pokéfans had thankfully taken their... conversation outside and only one other person dropped by but they left soon after. I felt conflicted about whether or not to tell Mrs. Aka about the times I'd used the Focus Flute, but I was frankly unable to think of a good reason not to.

She threw wisdom around like free candy and I wasn't about to turn down extra advice.

Basically, I wound up talking about a lot more than the flutes.

She sat there as my recounting of events grew more and more encompassing until I'd finished explaining my involvement with hunting down Magma and Aqua and my association with the League.

"Well... That's quite the reason to want to teach a pokémon how to play an instrument."

Couldn't really deny that. I scratched the back of my head with a sheepish chuckle.

"I think this warrants an insider's opinion." She pulled a ball from her pocket and opened it. A large alakazam materialized next to Sylph who had curled up and gone to sleep. He rotated one ear around before deciding there wasn't any danger and resumed his snoring.

"Creme?"

I knew enough between my interactions with Imp to know a psychic conversation when I saw one, the yellow-furred telepath turned to his trainer and made a ringing sound with the metallic implements the higher abra evolutions all used. Some were like tuning forks, others like metallic bones. I'd even seen one before that looked like a spoon.

"Alright then, would you mind showing Creme what you did in the fields?"

I poked Imp, she'd been listening so she immediately gave her own okay. I waited a moment and focused on the new psychic, meeting his eyes.

It wasn't that I didn't trust Mrs. Aka, I just wasn't about to take chances for something like this.

 _Friend?_

' _The Wise and Kind Human trusts you. You are like her son. She wants to help, so I want to help.'_

Thoughts could lie, impressions could not. I could trust this pokémon.

Imp felt my internal affirmation and pulled the Focus Flute out of the case, looking to me for further instructions.

I gave them.

We couldn't communicate very quickly, with all parties being one step removed from the rest of the group. That said, we still made a very important discovery.

"I suppose it makes sense. I _am_ glad you checked with me first, though." Mrs. Aka leaned back in her chair.

I just turned to her, Imp doing the same as she lowered her flute.

"I confess I'm unfamiliar with the science behind it, but you know how talented psychic trainers can sometimes develop minor psychic powers of their own?"

I nodded, remembering the levitating pokéball that had started this little branch of personal research.

"Well, all that really does is add an extra function to your brain. Gives you knowledge you couldn't figure out with your own five senses. As far as Creme and I can tell, you're doing the same thing, just backwards."

I digested that. "So... I'm not _changing_ what's in her head, just adding to it?"

She nodded. "Yep, so I don't think you need to worry about overwriting the 'remember to breathe' neurons. All she needs now is practice."

The green haired empath gave a happy hum.

Mrs. Aka smiled at her before turning back to me. "As for the other two on your team, I'm afraid that's out of my expertise. There's a man who works at the Seashore House who owes me a favor. Tell him I sent you and he should be able to help you a little more with Minnow. As for Sylph here, you might be able to find someone in Fortree who can help you, but that's all I can offer."

"Thank you Mrs. Aka, you've already done more than it was fair of me to ask. I came here to say thanks, and now I owe you twice as much."

She waved me off. "What have I told you about old crones and stories? It's a pleasure talking to you, always gets the guts upstairs churning again." She tapped a finger to her temple with a smile. "Now get out of here before you get any other silly notions of paying me back."

The proprietor of the Seashore House wasn't able to help me himself but pointed me to a lifeguard who worked with a remoraid. It was getting into the afternoon so he'd be off his shift soon but I still had some time to kill.

I'd camped out under one of the many beach umbrellas and thought about things while helping Imp focus on her breathing exercises.

This is what happens when I get time to think.

 _I really need to stop antagonizing May._

That was about it. I could technically call her, I had her number from way back when I'd first joined the lab. But that felt like hiding behind a screen, if I was going to make this right it would be in person.

 _Because making it up to May worked so well last time._

The last of the tourists leaving after Chimney's close call had already been on boats by the time I got back on the road so May had since departed Slateport. Her route, as I understood it, took her by Dewford before looping back to Littleroot to drop off what she couldn't email and continuing towards route 118.

There was a non-zero chance of stumbling into her somewhere in eastern Hoenn as our routes met up at route 118 and paralleled from there. And I still had very little idea of how to apologize for being everything wrong with her life.

"Hey, you Wallace?"

I jerked out of my thoughts to see one of those painfully photogenic lifeguards jog up to me. Seriously, it was like someone had peeled him off of a poster and brought him to life. I became more acutely conscious of the scars dotting my bare legs.

"That'd be me. And you're Garet I take it?"

He nodded. "Boss said you needed some help with training one of your pals to carry a rider?"

"Yep. Did you have somewhere you wanted to take this?"

"Nah, water's pretty open after all the tourists ditched. Can't say I blame them. That whole Chimney thing was pretty scary."

"Yeah, I just doesn't make much sense to me. What could possibly be gained from that? Most of Hoenn would just... Yeah."

"Well, it's no use brooding on it. Now," we stopped at the edge of the slowly lapping water, "who're we working with?"

I kicked off my shoes, glad I'd left my extra gear under the umbrella. "Minnow, rise and shine."

I'd seen him erupt into existence enough times for me to avoid gaping. This gave me the freedom to smirk at the lifeguard as his eyes opened wide enough to see the whites all around.

While I would never say it to his face, I was fairly certain Minnow had something of a vanity streak. It would explain why he always seemed to stretch out more and let out louder rumbles whenever someone else was around.

Dragons were prideful, whodathunkit?

"So, where should we begin?"

My question snapped Garet out of his reverie, mostly. "Oh, uhh. Well, Nate's only big enough for one person..."

"Your remoraid?"

"Yeah, uh here." He pulled a ball from the pocket of his trunks and let the fish out. It splashed into the water and splashed around for a moment before bumping into Minnow's side. It was pretty easy to tell when the remoraid realized what Minnow was. The bubbling scream of terror made that pretty easy.

"Hey showoff." I waded into the water and patted Minnow's underside to get his attention. "You're scaring the teacher. Tone it down a bit?"

He lowered his head and snorted at me, his bell jingling like a tiny ornament before looking back around at the vast expanse of water that lined Hoenn's south coast. I couldn't blame him, I had only let him go swimming once since he'd...

Wow, I'd been depriving Minnow pretty badly, hadn't I? One bad time in the water and I hadn't let him try again for almost two months.

Time to fix that. I climbed up onto his back and looked to Garet, who still hadn't moved.

"So what now?"

"Well, first off, not _that_. See, he's about to-"

Minnow cut him off by letting out a roar that shook my bones before lunging into the ocean.

This was going to be a very damp afternoon.

I was a land dweller. I could swim, sure, but I prefered walking to swimming. For Minnow it was the other way around. I didn't hold it against him, it just made things... tricky.

An hour of all but fruitless training later and I drifted off of his back and swam back to shore.

"No offense, but I don't think this training is working." I panted to Garet, actually getting all my breath back. Minnow continued to frolic.

I also took the time to notice that we'd drawn something of a crowd, there was also a conspicuous lack of swimmers as Minnow enjoyed the water. Oh well, the lifeguard _had_ said we could train wherever.

"Yeah, to be honest I think you might need a tutor machine. They sell surf TMs at the market, you can check them out tomorrow."

"I suppose that's fair. He's already come a long way from the irritable serpent he was when he evolved but you can't really tame a gyrados, just encourage them to cooperate. Is it alright if I let him stay in the water a bit longer? I've been limiting his access to it just based on where I've been traveling lately."

"That's fine, just make sure you take him with you when you head home for the night."

I nodded and Garet as he collected his things and left. Minnow did not appear to have noticed my absence yet.

My eyes were drawn away from the leaping dragon by a metallic rasping sound barely loud enough for me to hear. I traced it to a fairly conspicuous hole in the sand near the rest of my team.

I got up to investigate and only got more questions when I spotted Marble at the bottom of the hole, chewing on what appeared to be a mouthful of sand.

"Marble?"

She looked up at me, still chewing.

' _Hungry.'_

I pulled a pokéblock from my pack and offered it to her, she nosed it aside and took another large bite out of the sand.

 _The hell? She loves the blue ones. I know she's a lithovore but she's never turned one down before._

 _Imp, any ideas?_

My freeloading psychic continued to snore on the sand, I felt one of my eyebrows involuntarily twitch.

Well, whatever it was that was going on apparently wasn't urgent enough to wake her.

 _Whatever this is, it is absolutely going in my notes-_

Marble climbed out of the hole and shook her faceplate off.

"What the hell?! Marble? Are you okay?" I kneeled down next to her as she continued to pry the rest of her plates off.

"Imp, wake up!" I sent as urgent of a jab as I could.

She snorted indignantly as she sat up, blinking blearily.

 _Imp, what's stone-friend doing?_ I used Imp's term, trying to help her focus.

She blinked a few more times before spotting the now fully plateless Marble and hovering over with an alarmed hum.

I could only watch as Marble started chewing on her discarded plates, looking nothing so much as like a particularly dark, muscular cub with no hair and grainy skin.

' _Full hunger. She is growing?'_

I connected the dots. "She's molting." Now I just needed to figure out what to do about it.

 _Rock/Steel dual type and she has more than enough rock to work with, this being a beach and all. But I somehow doubt her old plates will give her enough metal to grow a new set. She's going to need some iron._

Lithovores worked fast. Marble was already working chewing on her last little leg plate.

She swallowed the last scrap of metal and started glowing. I could only watch as she grew, not so much stretching or changing as much as just expanding. She only started slowing down after her shoulder came up to my waist. I kept my scanner on her the whole time.

The light receded and I saw her evolution, or most of it at least. The most obvious change was the color, where she had been an grainy black under her plates before she was now a sandy white color.

The color of marble, ironically enough. She was also rather obviously missing plates of any kind. To my relief though, the first thing she did was curl up and go to sleep.

Rock types tended to take evolutions pretty hard. She needed her rest. In the meantime, I needed to get ahold of some proper metal for her to chew on until her plates grew back and I needed to coax Minnow out of the water.

Never a dull moment.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: We'll get back to the actual journey soon, just a few other team things to get out of the way. Something else worth noting, I will be almost entirely ignoring the effects of oceanic pressure and the bends since there really isn't much of a lore friendly way to address it. And for those of you who just read the chapter. Yes, yes I did.

Chapter 11: The Bad Kind of Closure

It took some convincing, but the shipyard had a small foundry and I was able to buy some of the excess metal from the workers so Marble would have what she needed to complete her evolution. She was so gentle most of the time, it was a bit of a reality check when I watched her rip a bite out of a metal sheet with little visible effort.

I hadn't actually stopped to consider the simple logistics of how much material Marble was putting away until now. She'd been _inside_ the hole of sand she'd eaten before eating her old armor as well. Now she was eating a proportionally similar amount of scrap steel, the total mass she'd taken in couldn't be less than several hundred pounds, she might've even cracked a thousand by now.

Cindy continued to lick the back of my head as I pondered the math. I think it was a leftover habit from whatever instinct had led to her first greeting my by sticking a tongue in my eye. I tended to get weird looks and world-class cowlicks from her grooming sessions but I'd gotten too used to it to really care.

Back to Marble, I would have been extremely hard pressed to get her off the ground before she'd evolved. Now it was so far out of the question it was actually funny to think of anyone trying to lift her. I doubt even Minnow could manage it. I would have to make a point of rescanning her once she finally finished evolving to find her final weight.

Once she finished _this_ helping of ship grade steel she curled up and went back to sleep. I put her back in her ball again, waiting for the next wobble that would indicate her being hungry. Last time she'd been out for the whole night so I hoped I would have _some_ time to work with Minnow before needing to supervise her next meal.

Also, remember how I said if it was sold, one could find it in the Slateport Market?

" _Tutor Machine for the Surfing, Swimming, Diving, and Jockeying of 'Gyarados'."_

I was right. I'd already burned the disk running it through Minnow's ball but I hadn't had the chance to let him out just yet, I wanted to keep tabs on Marble.

With that in mind, I went right back to the beach. I kept the shipyard in jogging distance, but there was no need to haunt it for another ten hours.

I made sure to get the lifeguard's explicit permission to release Minnow this time. As funny as it was watching him realize what he'd signed up for, I didn't want to antagonize people where I knew I could avoid it.

Which is why I was immediately suspicious when I found Garet again and he looked - dare I say it - happy to see me.

"Hey, you find the TM you were looking for?"

"Yeah, I was actually just going to ask if I could let Minnow out again today. I'd like us both to get a feel for what's what before I head out into the middle of the ocean."

"Cool. Yeah, most people don't start showing up until afternoon, anyway. You're clear."

I realized what was going on when I saw the small group gathered by the lifeguard stand-chair-post-thing.

 _Guess not many people actually get to see a gyarados in person. Minnow will love this._

I dropped my extra stuff under one of the umbrellas and had the rest of my team stay there while I looped my goggles over my neck. I waded into the water, feeling it tingle slightly on the pinprick scars on my legs before letting Minnow back out.

"Alright... third time's the charm, right bud?" I hoised myself onto my usual spot.

Minnow hadn't actually moved yet and was surprisingly not preening at the unusual amount of attention. He had his head tilted to the side with the same expression Mutt had had back when I'd taught him Dig. Hopefully that meant the TM had done what it was supposed to do.

I waited until he'd finished taking in the extra knowledge to give him a nudge. He only glanced back at me, as if to make sure I was there before lowering his head to the water and-

"Shit!"

The sudden rush of momentum was much more than I'd been expecting, almost sending me toppling over the side. Minnow weaved slightly on the surface of the water as he gunned forward.

Well, I wasn't underwater yet so this was already going better than the previous attempts. Feeling brave, I tilted myself to the right, using the same steering method we'd figured out for overland travel.

Minnow swerved to the right. Another tilt, to the left. It was a bit early to say for certain, but I think the TM worked.

I leaned back into one of his dorsal fins and he slowed, pulling his head off of the water to look back at me.

 _So if back is slow down, then forward must be speed-_

I had barely started to tilt forward before Minnow dived almost straight into the water. I didn't even have the time to shout in alarm before I was dunked once again. A tightening of my grip and pressing back on his dorsal fin once again brought us up to the surface.

Somewhat belatedly, I shook the water from my goggles and fastened them around my eyes. I could buy a set of swimming goggles if I needed to, but I wanted to see if the desert ones would work instead.

Leaning forward _gently_ still brought Minnow into a steep dive. I pulled in a breath as I was yanked under yet again. I reflexively blinked, but when I opened my eyes.

The sand and rocks sat beneath us, tiny aquatic pokémon darting between them like large insects. The imagery was startlingly sharp through the water as I peered over Minnow's side.

It felt like I was flying through a thick wind as Minnow weaved through the water in all his enormous glory. I was starting to see why he liked swimming so much. Dappled light on the rocks, the rush of water on your skin. Before too long I felt my chest grow tight. I could've just nudged Minnow back up to the surface, but...

 _I wonder..._

I steered him deeper until we were only a few feet from the rocky bottom, then I leaned back sharply and gave him a tap with my heels. Either the TM had worked even better than I'd given it credit for or we were already thinking the same thing. Whatever the case was, the results were _spectacular._

Minnow all but leapt off of the bottom before shooting towards the surface fast enough to press my goggles into my face. A few vigorous strokes brought us all the way to the surface in just a moment before bursting through it.

I can neither confirm nor deny that I gave a loud cheer as I soared out of the water on the back of a dragon. Minnow gave his own roar of obvious joy, the tiny bell tied to his horn ringing happily.

We continued to splash around in the water for another half hour at least, but my arms were already tiring significantly and I didn't want to have to swim back on my own so I reluctantly steered Minnow back to the shore.

Where the group of people I had utterly forgotten about were still waiting. I had only just gotten off of Minnow before the group all but accosted me with questions.

"Holy crap! That was so cool!"

"Can I ride him?"

"How did you tame a gyarados?"

"Are you going to be around tomorrow too?"

I took an involuntary step back and bumped into Minnow, who started curling protectively around me with a sand shifting rumble.

The questions stopped pretty quickly.

"Easy, Minnow. Sorry, but I was mostly just making sure the TM was working properly. I need to keep going on my expedition. I've already been here longer than I was supposed to."

The group remained quiet, though I suspected that was more Minnow's work than mine. I sure as hell wasn't very intimidating with my soaked swimming shirt and thin frame.

"Don't sweat it," Garet piped up, "it's just a pretty rare sight to see a gyarados in person and even rarer to see one tamed. You looked pretty badass riding him around like that. If you find yourself back in Slateport again, feel free to drop by." He gave me a friendly nod, diffusing some of the tension.

I smiled back. "Like big and scaly here would let me avoid a trip to the beach." I gave Minnow a scratch under one of his plates, eliciting an entirely undignified sound of contentment from the dragon. "Thanks again for letting me train here."

A few awkward goodbyes later and I brought Minnow back to his ball. Once Marble was finished with her new plates, it would be back to work as unusual.

I had feared that Marble would need weeks' worth of metal to fully grow her new plates since I hadn't seen any evidence of growth at all despite the metric _stupidly large amount_ she'd already consumed. My worry was alleviated when she went through what I could only describe as a micro-evolution.

She'd stopped after getting most of the way through the newest pile of scrap and started shifting with agitated growls. Before I could do anything she rolled onto her back and started scratching herself on the pavement. This spontaneous itch lasted for a good minute before she rolled right side up started suddenly glowing.

The light only lasted a moment, too short for me to think about bringing my scanner up. It receded as abruptly as it started. My first impression of her full evolution was that she was no longer the adorable little cannonball she had been when I'd met her.

She looked vaguely like a basilisk and a bear had a child, then strapped armor to it. The effect reminded me of when Mutt had evolved all those months ago. She was not a baby by any stretch anymore.

I took another cursory scan, just to catalogue her end form.

 _Lairon... Rock/Steel... 289.3 lbs._

...

"Because a hundred and thirty plus two hundred pounds of sand plus five hundred pounds of steel doesn't quite make three hundred."

Marble looked up at me and belched loudly. I just gave a tired sigh while I typed a note into my pokédex.

"You're right. I don't know why I expected that to make any sense, either." I finished the note and knelt down, pulling her browning scarf from my bag before wrapping it around one of her leg spines. She examined the garment for a moment and gave a surprisingly high chirp of approval.

I smiled, time to get back to work.

I hadn't been lying when I said I was behind schedule, I just hadn't been quite as far behind as I'd led the group of beachgoers to believe. I still had enough elbow room to permit a trip down the bike path to Mauville instead of teleporting.

Besides, I hadn't gotten nearly as much mileage out of the bike as I would have cared to. If I wanted to stop avoiding trainers I would walk, if I wanted to get somewhere quickly I'd ride Minnow, and if I needed to get somewhere _now_ I would use Imp. I would freely admit that dragons were cooler than bicycles.

Still, I had a free bike. I might as well use it from time to time, as I'd agreed to.

The process of being allowed onto the bike path was as simple as proving I had a functional bike. Imp stayed in my bag and I let Sylph out to follow from the air, but everyone else needed to go back in their balls.

It was a nice day, a little cloudy, but hardly enough to keep me from enjoying the ride. The disproportionate number of trainers almost managed to sour my mood, but I kept my head high. It was about two in the afternoon by the time I got to Mauville. I dropped by Wattson's gym to check in and say hello but there wasn't much of a reason to stick around. I bought a medium dry bag at the market, but that was it.

So off I went.

I pretended not to take notice of the bare patch of ground where I'd fought May last. The grass hadn't quite grown back just yet.

 _Maybe you'll do better next time. Maybe._

Something about the soil between Mauville and Route 118 made the trees few and far between, so the majority of the space between the two was taken up by meadows and fields. There weren't many pokémon around, barring the ones the other trainers had with them. The walk was pleasant between the occasional battle and I got to the edge of the delta that marked the proper start of Route 118 by evening.

I slept under the stars again. It was getting a bit cold for that, but I wouldn't trade this for anything.

After a quick breakfast I let Minnow out and got ready to cross the delta, stuffing my backpack into the dry bag.

"Anyone want to ride along?"

Marble and Cindy had to go back to their balls for obvious reasons, Mutt wasn't far behind them. Sylph could fly though so he stayed out, Imp just poked around in my memories from yesterday's ride before agreeing to stay out as well.

I had a feeling she just didn't want to pass up time to practice the flutes. She'd barely put the Piper's Flute down since getting Mrs. Aka's approval.

After everyone got settled we were off across the water. Dragons were not only cooler than bikes, they were cooler than boats too. It only took half an hour to get across with Minnow's pace. The ferry had been due to leave at about the same time we arrived at the other side.

Shoot, I might even manage to keep my word to Mr. Briney. I doubted Minnow was about to get tired of the water and I didn't get seasick while riding him.

Things were actually going pretty well. I nervously glanced over my shoulder.

(Gabby)

"You said the ferry was supposed to be here by now."

"I said the ferry was leaving the _west side_ at nine, maybe if you'd been listening we could've slept in a little more."

I shot a look at my lazy cameraman. "Maybe if you weren't always mumbling I'd have actually heard..."

My eyes were drawn to something in the water. It looked far off, but if I judged the distance right then it must be pretty big.

"Hey, Ty. Do you see that?"

"See what?" He looked up at me before tracing my gaze to the... "Is that a gyrados?" He asked, pulling the camera case up and undoing the latches.

"I think it is, I've never heard of any around here but we should see if we can get some footage. There's always some documentary looking for more film of these things." _Might also help us kill some time while we wait for the ferry to get here._

"Wait... That can't..." Ty squinted into the camera harder than usual, I suspected he was making liberal use of the zooming function. "Gabby, get the mic hooked up. I think we have our next story. Someone's riding it."

"What?!" I focused as best I could. There _might_ be a discolored speck on its back, but it was still too far off to be sure.

Whatever, I wasn't letting something like this slip through my fingers. I was _not_ going back to the Mauville Station empty handed.

We got the rest of the necessary equipment started up and stuck ourselves at the closest point on the beach where we thought the rider would land.

"Three. Two. One..." Ty flicked his wrist at me, starting the recording.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen. I'm Gabbie, coming to you from Route 118, where an exceptional trainer has made an appearance." I took a few measured paces backwards before turning to the... boy? He couldn't be older than fifteen, and he'd been riding a gyarados? "Excuse me sir? How did you manage to tame such a powerful beast enough to let you ride it?"

Ty shuffled closer behind me, focusing on the... His face was young to be sure but the word 'boy' didn't really seem to fit. Focusing on the young man.

"I'd rather not be on camera, ma'am." He answered, shooting several pointed glances to Ty.

This was getting weirder by the minute. Most people would bend over backward to get the chance to show up on TV. But this young man was simultaneously commanding enough to order a gyarados around _and_ too camera shy to just go with it?

Well damn, we'd get no small amount of displeasure from the rest of the media if we tried to air this now. Still, I wasn't about to give up.

"Is something wrong sir? We can keep this quick if you'd like."

"What's wrong is that I would really, truly rather not be on camera." His tone was balanced between irritation and nervousness.

Dang it. We weren't going to get blood from this stone it seemed. Fine, I could still get _something_ , I just had to be clever. I waved Ty down, he lowered the camera.

"I'm sorry if we offended you sir. It's just not everyday you see a trained gyarados and we've been having some pretty lousy luck finding any stories recently. Would you mind an interview if we didn't use the camera?"

I could tell he wanted to say no, but appealing to his sense of pity and putting him where he'd have to be openly impolite to turn us away just might have done the trick.

He sighed, putting a placating hand on the sea dragon that had been-

I glanced up and saw a very unhappy looking predator the size of a small building glaring down at me. Right, so maybe pressuring a trainer like this wasn't my best idea. Much too late to back out now, though.

"Alright, but I _do_ need to be somewhere, so I'd appreciate it if we could keep this quick."

 _Score._

The interview was hardly a raging success. He kept trying to end any threads of conversation and only gave ambiguous answers, forcing me to stick to the canned questions. Still, I was able to make a few observations and get a few helpful answers.

I hadn't noticed the 'crobat' as he named it, mostly due to my attention being commanded by the dragon less than ten feet away. He claimed it was a bond-based evolution with a golbat. If the evidence of such a thing hadn't been flying around my head and occasionally nibbling Ty's bag, I might not have believed him.

He also had five gym badges. I considered myself a modest success of a trainer with my own two, but this kid was looking more and more like the real deal.

Which made it truly and exceptionally frustrating when he _wouldn't give us a name._

"Sir, please understand. We can't air any of this without a name to tie all of your accomplishments together."

"Ma'am, please understand. I don't want to be on the air. Most of what you've asked isn't your business anyway. There are two separate criminal organizations hiding somewhere in Hoenn; each with apocalyptically mislead objectives. You seem like you've been doing this song and dance for a while. You'll figure something out even if I'm not the hottest new topic."

He was partially right. I'd interviewed more people than I cared to count. But not one of them had been this avoidant and I didn't want to paint him as a criminal without some form of implication. Unfortunately, it looked like he was just about out of patience as he recalled his gyarados.

"Alright sir. If you're certain you don't have time for any more questions-"

He gave a curt nod and walked away.

 _Fine. We can do no camera._ I could think of a couple newspapers that would be quite interested in the audio we'd collected.

We still had more than enough of a line to catch this particular fish. Time to make some calls.

(Wallace)

I really couldn't help but feel a little bad for being so short, but that damn reporter's questions just _hadn't stopped._ If I didn't know any better I would think she was getting paid by the line for how hard she tried to pry information from me.

Hell, under most conditions I might have even been willing to give her something. But the current conditions included the leaders of the two aforementioned cult-gang-team leaders looking for _me specifically._ The last thing I wanted to do was go stick my name and face up on the news.

I had been sorely tempted to just teleport away, but I didn't want to make Minnow cross the delta twice just because I was socially incompetent and I couldn't teleport back without knowing how long the reporters would hang around.

Imp played a quite note on the Piper's Flute. I couldn't help but smile a bit.

"You're right, no use griping. We have work to do."

The most visible difference of this side of the Inpei river was the trees. They'd gone from what I thought of as typical conifers to something more tropical. Enormous, broad leaves on both the trees and shrubs with thick grass shooting up in the gaps.

Finding pokémon here would probably be very easy. Finding _all_ of them would probably be all but impossible. A rule of thumb I'd already cemented in my mind was that the more life you saw, the more complicated the ecosystem.

In a desert you could go miles without seeing anything. Caves weren't much better. Lakes were somewhat dependent on what exactly went into them and forests could get pretty tricky, I'd already seen that with Petalburg Woods.

Jungles? I was going to be here a while.

A week.

A full week and I was still adamant I was missing something, maybe many somethings.

The unexpectedly high population of what could only be naturally evolved linoones threw me for something of a loop until I considered the baseline.

Weather brought brief torrential rains and kept the warm air localized, bringing large amounts of energy into the area for life to use. More solar energy and lots of water means lots of plants also means lots of food. Lots of food meant more pokémon. More pokémon meant more interactions between pokémon, meant more conflict. More conflict means more growth, means more evolution.

Be strong or be crushed by the ones that are. There was a reason the process was called evolution.

The eastern chunk of 118 and all of 119 that I had thus far seen was practically bursting with life. For the first time in my journey I had physically _tripped_ over a pokémon, an electrike that had then made very certain to demonstrate how unhappy it was about me interrupting its nap.

I supposed I had deserved that in some capacity, I had barely been using the trails and Imp had been devoting almost every waking moment to learning the flutes; she was probably better with them than I was at this point. Unfortunately she was too focused on what was inside my head to warn me about anything outside of it.

Another part of what had kept me looping this section of the Inpei River was the interaction between the linoones and the carnivorous fish that lived in the river.

The carvanha had dorsal fins that looked extremely similar to those that appeared on the magikarp in the river, making it difficult to tell the two apart from above the surface. Linoones were able enough swimmers to catch the magikarp, but the carvanha were more than capable of exploiting this.

The only inconsistency I'd seen with this was the single time when I'd seen a linoone pull what looked like a mud brown magikarp out of the water. In a fit of the same decisiveness that put me in the heart of a salamence's den, I'd had Imp teleport me into the tree above where the linoone had deposited its catch and managed to scan the poor fish. I'd thought it was a breed of magikarp that had developed scales better colored for hiding, but apparently it had changed enough to become an entirely separate pokémon. Were the circumstance different, I'd have stayed longer so I could study these 'feebas' more, but with all the carvanha around...

I was not going to go swimming without a _very_ good reason. Even fishing seemed like a bad idea. The experimental pokéblocks I tossed into the water were snapped up far too aggressively for a magikarp.

Thankfully, I might be able to avoid a situation like that altogether. I was nearing the end of route 119, thus leaving the Inpei altogether. At the moment, I was just getting within sight of the weather institute near the end of the bridge that would take me to Fortree.

I had been wondering why someone would go to all the trouble of building what was apparently a state-of-the-art research facility in the middle of the jungle. I got my answer in the form of the most singularly erratic weather I had ever seen.

Seriously, in the last minute alone it had gone from raining to sunny and back again before _snowing_ and then more sun. Two of those made sense, but snowing? In eastern Hoenn?

Imp gave an undignified snort of amusement at my confusion.

Speaking of Imp, she had just gone back to playing a simple tune on the focus flute when she went quiet with a small, urgent hum.

 _What's wrong?_

Instead of an impression she brought the memory of Slateport Museum to mind. The one of when it was getting robbed to be specific.

I said something I would not repeat in front of my mother (or to you) before yanking out my nav and hitting Wattson's speed dial. I started running towards the front doors as the device made the useless sounds of no one picking up yet.

"Wattson speaking."

"Wattson, it's Wallace! I'm outside the Weather Institute on route 119 and Imp's going nuts like she did when Slateport Museum was getting robbed. I think it might be Team Aqua again."

"I'll get Winona on the line, try to get a confirmation on the situation." He ordered before putting his nav down and started merging lines.

I didn't respond as I finally closed the distance to the doors. I tried widening my connection to Imp as I ran up next to the doors and tried to hide myself while peering into the foyer, making motions for my team to hide as well.

It wasn't hard to pin down the blue uniforms against the white painted walls.

"Yeah, it's Aqua. About..." Imp and I communicated briefly. "Five to seven grunts. At least twenty scientists are still stuck in there. Should I head in?"

"No-"

"Wattson! You haven't called in forever! How're you do-"

"We'll catch up later, Windy - you have a hostage situation at the Weather Institute to deal with. Wallace, fill her in."

I did so, quietly noting the apparent excess of people I knew with 'W' names.

"Dammit, that's a twenty minute flight at best - and that's _if_ the weather holds. I'll get there as soon as I can, but I'd bet my goggles they aren't going to hang out that long."

"I can probably deal with the grunts, but I'm really not sure I'd be able to keep them all trapped here. Not on my own." I offered.

There were the sounds of gear being rustled as Winona and Wattson deliberated.

"Arrgh. Keep them there as long as you can without risking yourself. Don't reveal yourself until you have to, but keeping the scientists safe is your first priority."

"Got it."

With that in mind, I stayed exactly where I was. I hadn't been spotted yet, so for now my best strategy was to wait until they tried to leave and box them in as best as I was able. Neither of the Teams had used psychics in any capacity that I'd seen so I wasn't worried about being sensed myself.

It would have been bad enough on my own, standing here knowing there were people in there who were being subjected to Aqua's demands. I tried my best to keep an empathetic ear out to make sure no one's worry or fear got as far as panic, but it was hard to do when Imp was getting twitchier with every passing second.

' _Why are we waiting? We can stop the angry ones. They are afraid. Whyarewewaiting?'_

I did my best to convey the strategy to her, but it was times like this that I remembered Imp was not quite as smart as a person. She was powerful, but the fine details of plans tended to be lost on her. She acted more on emotion than on reason - to an empath, they _were_ reason. I need only remember a certain very brief flight over Chimney Desert to affirm that.

Or at least that's what I told myself as Mutt joined with his own agitated whining. Though that might have had to do with the fact that it suddenly started hailing.

The minutes ticked past at an agonizing pace, my team and myself by proxy getting more and more on edge with each passing moment. This was not helped by the weather abruptly shifting every thirty seconds, keeping me extremely aware of how much time wasn't passing. Soon I had to physically stop myself from grinding my teeth. I tried to keep Wattson and Winona updated to distract myself, but Imp made sure I was _acutely_ aware of what was going on every second I didn't do anything.

' _Are we too weak? Can we help? Please let us help.'_

 _I don't like waiting any more than you do but nobody's being hurt right now. We can either try to trap them or help the scientists. We just aren't strong enough to risk both._

For the first time since she'd first alerted me her stream of thought went quiet. A moment passed before...

Well, I can _tell_ you she started to evolve, but I doubt my ability to explain what that felt like with the connection still open. Like swimming in a pool that suddenly started overflowing into a lake. Like inhaling without an upper limit to lung capacity. Like every muscle suddenly adjusting to a different skeleton.

The process was slow. Not quite as deliberate as Marble's had been, but close. Once the light faded and the sensations of burgeoning potential finally abated, I got a look at her.

My first impression was that if someone who'd never seen a person before tried to draw a grown woman, this would be the approximate result. She was a good few inches shorter than me. Her color pallette hadn't changed at all, still sporting her greens, whites, and reds. The only major physiological shifts that I saw was that her tutu had graduated to a full dress and her heartpiece had migrated to her chest. It looked vaguely like someone had impaled her with a large, red guitar pick.

She was also radiating the kind of chiming, silent energy she did whenever she was focusing especially hard. It was like the sound of a bell but without the sharp clang of the initial ring.

I belatedly realized there were voices approaching the door and that I'd gone silent.

"Wallace? You've gone quiet, did something happen?" Watson asked.

"Uh, yeah. Imp just evolved aaaaaand I think they know I'm here."

Winona contributed to my vocabulary of profanity. I made a note to ask her about _that_ one later. "Fine, I'm not going to get there for another fifteen minutes so just do what you can to help the scientists. We can try to figure out what they were up to after the situation is resolved."

I would have responded, but two Aqua thugs chose that moment to burst out the front door. I hooked my nav back on my belt and left the call open.

 _We need to stop them quickly. This'll go from bad to worse if they have a chance to warn-_

I'd barely finished the thought before two prismatic domes appeared around each of the thugs. They gave muted shouts of surprise, pressing on the sudden barriers.

Three guesses who made the barriers and the first two don't count.

I had actually seen this technique before, once when my family had visited Saffron City when I was little. During the visit I'd gotten to see a show put on by the city's gym. While the barrier could serve as a platform, this was much closer to its native use. Hence the name.

Imprison.

This would do. This would do just fine.

It did not do just fine. I had somehow failed to remember that most members of Team Aqua employed some manner of dark type, and one of the few things psychics could not deal with at all was dark types.

This was further pointed out to me when the Team Aqua _administrator_ fought me herself. I was able to beat her, but not before she'd managed to tear down half of the fields Imp had put up.

I'd done my best with Minnow blockading the door and Mutt running interference, but by the time Winona arrived I was left with a lone three grunts.

I had the grunts trapped in a single large barrier on the top floor so they'd have the furthest to run in case one of them somehow got through it. Winona was unhappy that I'd only caught three of the seven that had been here, but she did a good job masking it.

"How much longer can you hold them?" She asked, not taking her eyes off of the visibly nervous grunts.

Imp sent me the answer before I had the chance to ask. With no one trying to break through it the strain was similar to keeping a firm grip on something. It wouldn't hold for hours, but minutes would be fine.

"She can keep them until the police show up. Sorry I couldn't get all of them, but the administrator being here made things tricky."

"You fought Shelly? Suppose I should be glad you still got these three then."

"Don't give me too much credit. She only had two pokémon with her and I don't think she was expecting a fight."

"That doesn't seem like her, but I'm not about to look a gift rapidash in the mouth."

A trio of men in cop uniforms walked in, looking slightly out of breath.

"Jeez, Winona. I know you're the gym leader of the flying gym, but hot damn couldn't you slow down a little?"

I could _hear_ her smirk even as she reprimanded them for being slow. Once the rest of the police arrived they went around collecting statements and evidence where they needed to.

The weather I'd been noticing had apparently been the handiwork of one of the rarer local pokémon, a little grey thing called castform. The lone scientist-trainer working here had done an admirable job of holding Aqua off. Between testimonies and what I overheard, it sounded like they were after the weather data the institute had been collecting - specifically, what had been changing in the aftermath of the Mt. Chimney event.

I supposed I shouldn't be surprised, given the location of their robbery. But what could they accomplish with meteorological data?

It was times like this I was glad it wasn't my j-

Wait. Actually, it totally was my job. Self-imposed duty, at least. Great work, Wallace.

"Any idea why they were going after the weather data?" I asked Winona.

She let out a tight sigh. "Anyone's guess. As far as we understand Aqua's goals are to 'expand the ocean', so maybe they think they can alter the rain cycle or some other nonsense to get what they want. Also, I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Winona."

"Wallace." I took the offered hand and shook. "I take it Wattson's filled you in?"

"He has. Spoke quite highly of you too. Said I should be expecting you at the gym."

I huffed in amused exasperation. "Leave it to him to steal my thunder. Would you mind if I added you to my contacts? I called Wattson since he has the best network, but if anything else happens in this neck of the woods I'd like to be able to let you know as soon as I can."

She nodded. "I was about to recommend that, actually." She pulled out her nav and sent me the information. "And as much as I'd like to hang around, I had to leave my gym in the hands of my second in command. She's a bit of a greenhorn, so I should probably be getting back. Besides, your team looks like they need a rest. I'll see you at Fortree."

I waved as she walked out the front doors and released a frankly massive altaria and flew away on its back. She was probably right though, I took stock of how my team was doing.

Cindy and Sylph were both fine as I hadn't needed to get them involved in any of the fights so they'd been relegated to backup duty. Minnow hadn't really taken much damage either, he was more prone to sending people (and pokémon) running screaming than fighting. Imp was still on the power high of a recent evolution, but once she came down she'd need a good old-fashioned power nap. I hadn't seen Mutt take anything really bad in the fights-

There was a small smattering of red dots on the floor near his left forepaw. I was at his side before I realized my knees hurt from kneeling that fast. There was a jagged line of puncture wounds on his shoulder, most likely the work of Shelly's carvanha.

He gave a quiet whine and just kept panting, only turning one eye to look at me. I'd just been chatting it up with Winona and he'd been _bleeding on the floor_.

Best trainer ever, right here.

I got the medicine out, feeling Mutt's gaze on me the whole time.

We made an easy pace back. Minnow had thankfully allowed Imp to ride him once the crash hit so we were able to make it the rest of the way to Fortree by evening.

I was pretty sure my medicine treated everything, I took Mutt to the pokécenter anyway. He was still giving me a cold shoulder, which was still the least I deserved for outright _missing_ a serious injury both during and after the fight.

I realized that at least part of it was the increased feedback I got from Imp. When she was a ralts she needed to physically point my gaze towards anything she wanted me to focus on. Her first evolution had given her enough of a boost to just share the impressions she felt, leaving anything she gave me a few seconds out of sync but still much more precise. As a full fledged gardevoir, she cut out the middleman and had started just giving me live feedback.

This was all well and good until I realized that Mutt was a great big blind spot. Something about the way dark types thought just absolutely denied psychic access. The Mew itself couldn't look into the mind of a poochyena. Imp could focus as hard as she wanted, but without her more mundane senses she wouldn't have the faintest idea of where Mutt was.

As was evidenced by my completely missing a faint worthy injury. It was already hard enough to avoid relying on Imp, it had just become both far more necessary and much harder.

Well, worry wasn't going to solve this. Time to call it a night. I fell asleep to Cindy getting a head start tomorrow's cowlick.

There were only three things I really needed to do in Fortree and hopefully none of them would take very long. I already promised to drop by the gym, where I could hopefully also get someone to help teach Sylph to fly with a rider. He could technically carry me already but I'd rather avoid being a payload when I could avoid it. The last thing was just a guide on the local fauna so I'd have an idea of what to look for instead of just lurking and looking as I had been doing.

Though doing those might be a little harder than I'd anticipated. In my brief time in Fortree, I had seen a whole two buildings that were actually built on the ground. They were both the standard make pokémart and pokécenter, likely restricted from the... native architectural style by some regulation or another.

Which was fair. I couldn't really say I'd trust a pokécenter built out of a tree.

The undergrowth here was apparently so dense that the people who'd settled Fortree found it easier to build on top of it than clear cut it all away. This had the interesting result of everyone here choosing to live in the trees. As in literally inside of them. Doors in the sides of the trunks, inside. You could identify the gym by the enormous woven ring of trees and ivy that took up most of the center of the village.

And it really was a village, to the point of being restricted to navigating the weaved bridges between the platforms that served as intersections. It only took a ten minute walk to get from one end to the other. I could see this being a popular place to visit, but I couldn't help but imagine the novelty of living in a tree would soon wear off with the undoubtedly long list of inconveniences that came with it.

Still, it was easy to pick out the natives, typically by their lack of footwear and utter disregard for the paths us lesser visitors were restricted to. One particular ten year old really drove it home when I saw him _stop to wait_ for the mankey that was following him.

Getting distracted, I had a gym and a pokémart to visit.

It took a little bit of navigating, but I eventually found my way into Winona's workplace. Two of the larger trees in the mesh that made up the archway that served as a door. The whole ring was open to the sky and gave the structure a distinctly arena-like feel, which was appropriate since it was a gym.

I spotted Winona in her light blue garb perched on a branch much higher up than where I'd be comfortable climbing. She was watching over a spar between a boy about my age and a girl in her twenties with the same style of garb as the gym leader. The current match had a swablu and a swellow circling each other.

Said League member spotted me and started down, swinging and jumping off of branches like they weren't the only thing between her and a leg breaking fall.

"I was hoping you'd show. Here for the challenge I take it?"

I nodded. "That and I was wondering if this would be the place to get rider training for Sylph."

She gave me a look before smirking. "That depends on whether or not you win. We'll let these two finish first - shouldn't be too long."

She was right. Swablus were surprisingly durable for fliers, but the swellow was just too fast to deal with. Winona dropped down and gave some advice before beckoning to me as the other two left the arena.

 _Flying type specialist. Still leaves her plenty of elbow room with dual types. I already know she has an altaria and I'd be surprised if she didn't have skarmory or something similar. My best bets are going to be Minnow and Sylph's speed. Marble will make a good back up and Imp's range should cover everything else. Cindy's going to have to sit this one out, she can't bring enough firepower just yet to make up for being half ground type._

 _Let's do this._

I had failed to really appreciate the fact that altarias were sub-classified as a dragon type. It was easy to think of a puffy cloud as not much of a threat.

"Laputa, Dragon's Dance."

Have you ever tried to break down the most tactically intelligent way to attack a dragonfire-breathing thundercloud? The best I came up with was 'reevaluate life choices'. Imp's usual schtick of teleporting away proved almost useless, as said thundercloud was fast enough to reacquire her almost instantly.

I wound up just having to rely on Minnow's sheer durability to get it off the field, and even then he needed help from Marble. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd fought a pokémon that could beat two of my team without fainting, this made the third finger.

Minnow and Marble took on her Altaria, Imp the skarmory and pelipper, and in a split second decision I had Cindy fight what looked like a tree with enormous wing-like leaves. Sylph proved capable of mopping up her last swablu quite handily.

All said, I was glad she only had one altaria.

"I can see why Wattson trusts you so much. First the deal with the Weather Institute and now you actually managing to beat me. Consider my doors - and ceilings - open to you." She shot a look at the circle of sky above us.

I smiled. "Well there's the matter of getting our teams healed. I don't think I'm assuming when I say we could both use it."

"Fair enough, we're going to have to head back to the center for it though. Don't exactly have the facilities here to maintain a healing tray of our own."

That was unsurprising. The most manufactured thing in the gym was the arena itself which had been built to the usual standards. I gestured to Winona to take the lead as I recalled my team.

I had just enough time to realize asking her to take the lead was a bad idea before she grinned at me and all but flew up the arena wall and darted through an opening and out of sight. I deliberated for a second before internally shrugging and following after her.

All things considered, I think I did pretty well.

"That bandage stays on for at least another three days, and for the record try not to fall out of any more trees before then."

"Yes'm."

To clarify, that does not mean that I actually got more than halfway there before injuring myself, it simply means I did better than I expected to.

Nurse Joy just shook her head and muttered something under her breath before turning me back over to Winona. I'd seen bigger smirks before, but not many.

"For someone who can ride a gyarados, your balance could really use some work."

"As that was my first real attempt at any form of tree climbing I think even making it out of the arena means I exceeded expectations."

She snickered. "To be honest I didn't think you'd actually follow me. I was getting all of my slowpoke jokes ready for when you finally arrived. Anyway, now that your team's healed want to get to work with Sylph?"

"Sounds good to me, as long as you don't have anywhere to be soon. My previous attempts at rider training have frequently left something to be desired, so we might be occupied for a while."

She waved a hand at me. "Nah, I don't have any other challenges scheduled for today and it's always entertaining to watch a new rider."

Now why was that not comforting?

"Well, I think I'm going to learn from my past mistakes." I brought a hand up to rub the bandage on my left shoulder. "Where should we meet?"

(May)

On an intellectual level I could understand why this region of Hoenn was so interesting. The diversity and niche specific strategies had developed into some of the most curiously specific pokémon I've ever seen.

But in my current state of mind I would freely admit that it was hard to care about much more than where my next shower would come from. I'd made the mistake of trying to stand directly on the shoreline of the Inpei and hadn't noticed my feet sinking until my shoes had flooded; I had since developed an insistent itch on my left foot.

I would have just had Altaria fly me the rest of the way to Fortree if it were more than an hour walk, but as it was I decided it wasn't worth the potential cost of medicine it would take to treat Altaria if she wound up with whatever was on my foot. I didn't want to bike either, so much vegetation around the path was just asking for something to get caught in the spokes.

So walking it was.

I'm not sure I can describe what it was like when I finally spotted the pokécenter without directly referring to the feeling itself.

Like seeing a hot shower after spending the last five days in a jungle.

Nope, wasn't getting any more accurate than that. I made my way into the center and paid for a room for the night. I was confident I could beat this gym's challenge, especially with the training I'd been putting my team through recently.

Four evolutions in the last two weeks. I doubted even Wallace could keep up with that.

I'm not sure I could put it into words why I grated so much at even the thought of the hat wearing trainer. Maybe part of it was that almost every time something had started going wrong he'd been present in some fashion or another. That everything that went wrong was _somehow his fault._

On a primal level, I wanted to finish what I'd started back in the lab all those months ago. On a more civilized level I just wanted to beat him _once, somehow_ so I could get rid of this psychological splinter, which was part of the reason I'd trained my team so hard. Last time we'd fought and I'd been _dumb enough to believe him_ I'd been beaten by an infuriatingly wide margin.

This time would be different.

I finished my shower and generally felt like a human being again.

No reason to wait around, I'd gotten to Fortree at about noon so I had enough daylight left to try the challenge today.

Navigating the bridges strung up between the... treehouses was trickier than I'd been expecting, but the town as a whole was surprisingly small so it didn't take long to find the enormous arena. It definitely ered more on the traditional side of things, being curiously constructed out of living wood. I suspected that made it much easier to repair, but I wasn't really sure.

"Hey." I flagged down one of the nearby trainers. "Is the challenge open today?"

"Depends on when Winona gets back, which is anyone's guess." He answered.

"Did something come up?" I'd heard about the Weather Institute getting hit a few days ago, it was possible she had other fires to put out.

"Nothing big, just someone else came by earlier and beat the challenge. We weren't expecting anyone else so when he asked for help rider training his crobat Winona agreed to do it herself. Seemed like a fast learner so they should be back soon. You can wait here if you want."

 _Crobat? There's a rarity, might be worth sticking around to get a look at it with my pokédex._

"Sure. So how long have you been working with Winona?"

We chatted for a little while, but Jared seemed more focused on the doduo perched next to him so getting any helpful information was difficult. Even with his split focus, he noticed the gym leader's return before I did.

"That looks like them." He gestured to the opening in the roof of the gym.

I looked up and spotted the purple of the crobat first, standing out more against the slightly cloudy afternoon sky than the altaria that flew next to it. The altaria touched down first, leaning down to let Winona off as the crobat continued to circle.

"Oh come on, even if you don't stick the landing you've already shown you know how to take a fall!" She shouted up to the other rider.

"Your pep talks need some work, Winona!" The other voice shouted back.

Something in the back of my mind pinged at the voice, _but it couldn't..._

The crobat circled lower and lower, bringing its rider into view.

I would recognize that hat anywhere.

Wallace navigated his crobat the rest of the way to the floor of the gym in a wobbly landing before hopping off. "Ha! You're not getting more than one medical bill out of me today!"

He might have kept talking but my mind was occupied connecting the rush of information.

" _Someone else came by earlier and beat the challenge."_

Wallace was taking the league challenge.

" _I only took on the gym challenges to keep funded."_

If he was already up to Winona then he'd already accumulated the winnings from six of the gyms. So he was either spending like a meowth or _lying._

" _I have no doubts you're the better trainer."_

It hadn't been an open and shut battle, but I could have fought a dozen more times and still not won. That hadn't been true either.

"Hey Boss! You got another challenger!"

I jerked back to myself, Jared had just brought Winona's attention to me. And Wallace's by proxy.

I could tell the second he recognized me. He went entirely rigid, eyes wide as-

No, I wasn't going to deal with this right now. I ignored Jared's confused protests as I got up and walked quickly back out the entrance of the gym.

I didn't make it far, no doubt due to that damn psychic that never left his side. I didn't really have much of a destination in mind when I left and I found myself heading back down the trail I arrived from earlier today. I was only about halfway back to the weather institute before he caught up to me.

"May! May, wait! Please!"

 _You really have no damn clue when to leave well enough alone do you?_

I turned back to look at him. He'd let his team out again save for his gyarados and the crobat I'd seen earlier. His kirlia and aron had both evolved and he'd also caught a numel since we'd last fought.

"What? Is there something you want Wallace or was I not obvious enough when I walked away?"

He didn't cringe like I'd expected him to. He just looked sad.

"May, I get that you're angry with me. Shit, I don't think anyone has as much right to be mad at me as you do-" His eyes flicked to the side when he said that. He didn't even believe his own words.

I clapped. Slowly.

"Wow. You managed to figure out why I want to break something every time I so much as hear your name. It only took you, what? Two months to realize that lying to people tends to _piss them off?_ " I wasn't sure when I'd grabbed Slugma's ball, but it was starting feel like a better and better idea.

"What? May, I've been a jerk to you but I've never lied-"

I saw red.

"Never lied? Never lied?! 'I have no intention of taking the league challenge.' 'I have no doubts you're the better trainer.' Ringing any bells?!" Slugma was inching away from me, keeping a careful eye on each of us.

"May-"

"Or maybe you're not taking the challenge. Maybe you're only in it for the _money._ You want to _trust_ you? Let's start where we left off."

I took my spot behind Slugma.

His eyes met mine. "May, I don't want to fight you."

Shit, I almost believed him. Almost. "I wasn't asking."

"M-"

" _Wallace._ "

He took a step back and a part of me felt a very visceral satisfaction. It died a moment later when his face hardened and he walked forward.

In front of his team.

"I'm not going to fight you."

I wouldn't describe the sensation as a snap as much as I would letting out a breath I'd been holding for far too long. All pressure and heat in a _rush_.

"Rock Throw!"

Slugma brought his second eye to me, it looked confused.

"NOW!"

It panicked and fired a volley of burning stones, much faster than the piddling things it had used on his gyarados last time. Wallace jerked out of the way of the first one just in time for the second to connect just above his left eye with a wet crack The rest flew past him.

He dropped, limp.

"Get up Wallace. You're not getting off that easy."

No response.

"Wallace, get up."

No response.

"Wallace?"

He'd fallen forward and sideways so I couldn't tell _if he was breathing._

Why did I suddenly feel so cold?

Everyone in the clearing had gone utterly silent. His gardevoir floated down with wide eyes to where he lay and rested a hand on his head.

She hummed first, giving him a light shake. A ring and a firmer shake. A loud chime.

Nothing.

She looked at me, and _screamed._

I'd fought packs of wild pokémon before. I'd fought trainers too, sometimes two or more at a time. I was no stranger to facing multiple opponents at once.

That may have been the only thing that saved me.

To say all Hell had broken loose would be an understatement. Even bringing out my entire team had only just been enough to hold off his. I didn't know how they knew what was wrong, but after only a moment of fighting the two remaining balls on his belt broke open and his gyarados and crobat joined the fray

The fight lasted much longer than I was used to.

I was down to a very battered Linoone but his gardevoir had just _not given up_. Even so, it had since stopped hovering and looked a strong breeze away from falling over.

It looked around at his fallen team. At _him._

What happened next wasn't an abrupt sound or rush like the scream had been. It was the sound of your bones creaking under your own weight, of century old roots starting to break. Something desperate, fearful, and _furious._

It brought its hands together and the sound rose, bringing a feeling with it I couldn't quite place.

"All he wanted-"

 _It spoke?_

"Was to be your friend!"

The feeling surged and the grass suddenly tilted towards the hovering psychic. Linoone staggered forward with an agitated snuff, I had to lean away from... whatever it was doing.

A tiny hole seemed to open between its hands, perfectly round and perfectly black. The light around it started twisting like a lense. I only had a second to realize how thoroughly screwed I was before the rush increased _again._

I tried to run but my muscles didn't do anything. I fought and pushed myself to get away from...

' _I am going to die. This pokémon is going to kill me.'_ The thoughts felt almost alien as I just stood paralyzed, the hole getting bigger and bigger. Tufts of grass and earth were flying up from the ground and vanishing into it.

' _There is nothing I can-'_ The thought snapped as gardevoir winced, the effect abruptly lessening. It wobbled before drifting to the ground.

It glanced up at me, suddenly afraid, before looking back to Wallace's prone form. I turned to run while I could.

It screamed again. A sound of exertion, fury, and desperation. The black hole flared to the size of a basketball, ripping chunks of earth out of the ground as the trees started creaking and bowing, the closest one snapping entirely in half.

I tumbled backwards, feeling the gravity pull harder and harder until-

It stopped all at once and I was unceremoniously plopped on the ground. I staggered to my feet and looked behind me.

There was an almost perfectly circular scoop out of the ground five feet deep. The gardevoir lay in the center of it, unconscious.

" _All he wanted was to be your friend!"_

Ten unconscious bodies lay on the ground. Linoone and I were the only two still standing after I...

 _I attacked him. I_ assaulted _him. That alone is enough to get my trainer card revoked. I'll never be a trainer again, and if he's..._

Why was I so cold?

 _That's- He didn't... I wasn't... I..._

I ran.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Yes I did a cliffhanger, I'm sorry. Mostly. That's the only one I have planned. This chapter is mostly to recover from May's little mistake. Let's see how she is on the mistaker instead of the mistakee side of things. Also, I probably should have addressed this earlier, but when I use the term 'empathy' I'm not referring to the ability to say 'hey that's guy's mad' that all non-sociopaths have, I'm talking about the direct psychic perception of someone else's emotions. Think Grover from Percy Jackson.

Chapter 12: Hard to Make and Harder to Keep

I ran for a while. Only after I felt my legs had been burning for a while did I remember my bike. I biked as fast as I could, not going anywhere just getting away from...

 _I couldn't have killed him, that wasn't a hard enough hit._

 _Enough for brain damage, and that might finish the job. We didn't even stop to check._

 _Maybe he won't remember!_

 _That's awful! / I hope so._

I was distracted and wound up swerving off the path into a patch of particularly thick grass. I slammed my brakes, only just slowing down enough to keep myself from falling off on the rough terrain. Hopping off, I grabbed my bike and pulled it back towards the path. It was hard to ignore the feeling of pulling grass as I did so.

Once I was back on the trail I got a look at what had caused the feeling, simultaneously remembering why I had avoided riding my bike to begin with.

There were dozens of several foot long blades of grass wound through the entire chain and gear mechanism. It looked more like green rope at this point. I'd need at least an hour to pull all the fibers out, likely more.

I was going no further on this bike. I collapsed it before taking stock.

What had my plan even been? Run until what? There was no way the police were just going to ignore an assault _or..._ especially as malicious as this one had been.

I was on the run from the law. I could turn myself and my trainer card in, be denied the right to a team and my current one released entirely - and that was _at the very least_. Or I could just keep running, leave Hoenn altogether. Even assuming I made it that far, going to a pokécenter would risk being recognized. Which reminded me, my team was in really bad shape. Police records didn't span regions, did they? I didn't know, it wasn't like I had ever studied how to _flee the country_.

There was also the possibility of Wallace not pressing charges _if he was still alive_. But what reason had I ever given him to forgive me? He might have been a liar and a jackass every time we crossed paths, but thinking back he'd never really done it deliberately. He was just clueless and insensitive. Boy, that shoe was sure on the other foot now. The thought of him just letting me off the hook out of the good of his heart?

A slightly manic giggle left my mouth.

I didn't know what to do. I had no damn idea at all.

I pulled out my nav and dialed Mom's number. I could not express how grateful I was that she picked up on the first ring.

"May! You didn't call last week, how's your expedition going?"

"Hey Mom. Sorry I didn't call. I, uh..."

 _Tried to kill Wallace._

Thinking about it I had called to ask Mom for advice, but that was starting to look less and less like a viable plan.

"Dear? Are you there?"

"Yeah, yeah I just. Shoot." She was going to figure out something was up, there's no way she _wouldn't._

"May? Is something wrong?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I... I did something really really stupid and then I just kept making things worse and now I don't know what to do-"

"Hey, easy. I'm sure it's not that bad. What happened?" Despite how utterly wrong she was, her level voice still helped me regain some composure.

"Okay. So I only got to Fortree today but I was still planning on taking the gym challenge but then Wallace was already there and I just got so mad I..." I couldn't finish.

There was a moment where Mom waited to see if I was done. "I think I understand, and I still think it's not that bad. A few weeks ago I had a conversation with him, Wallace, while he was back in Littleroot recovering and he seemed adamant that he needed to apologize to you. I don't know exactly what happened between you two, but he still might be willing to talk things out if you go to him."

He'd been trying to apologize. I hadn't realized it but that was exactly what he'd been trying to do before I'd gone and...

"I... Thanks Mom. Can we catch up later?"

"Go ahead. Let me know how it goes." I could _hear_ the knowing smile in her voice.

I ended the call and stood up. Even if he... _I have to try._ My nav's map said I'd managed to undo the better part of today's hike in my panicked dash. I could try to get back on foot, but I was already pretty tired and my bike was no longer in working order.

I was going to have to walk-

My nav rang, I looked down at the screen.

 _The universe is conspiring against me._

" _Wallace"_

The name treacherously stared up at me from the display.

I think I felt some measure of every emotion I could comprehend and even a few I couldn't over the next several seconds.

I opened the call.

(Wallace, a little earlier)

"I gave you two orders. Keep the bandage on and _don't fall out of any more trees._ " Nurse Joy was giving me a look hard enough to drive nails into wood while she wrapped the ice pack in place over the gauze pad on my left eyebrow.

"Sorry. I'm sure it won't happen again." I said in an intentionally cheeky tone.

Her expression took on a sour look. "Kids these days. Luckily, you avoided serious brain damage, but you have symptoms consistent with a minor concussion. Try to keep your blood pressure down and take more breaks than you think you need. Stay relaxed. I'm afraid I can't give you any more instructions without repeating myself, but since you've already demonstrated your profound inability to _listen_ I'll do it anyway.

" _Neither_ bandage comes off for three more days, and _Don't. Fall. Out. Of. Any. More. Trees._ _Do you understand?_ "

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now shoo - I have an actual appointment I need to get to. You know, the scheduled kind?" She gestured at the door.

I took my leave while I could. Frankly, I was just glad she'd taken the ironic bait without looking into why I'd been hypothetically dumb enough to try my hand at tree climbing again. I collected my team from the healing tray on the way out.

I was just starting to debate what I should do next when Winona landed in front of me. Just... out of the sky. I didn't see Laputa anywhere.

She was also wearing a smirk that covered more of her face than her face did. I was starting to think that was just her default expression, for how often I saw it.

"Shut up." I was very conscious of my new bandage even though it wasn't from doing anything stupid.

...

Deliberately stupid, rather.

"I didn't say anything." Her smirk never wavered as she took stride next to me.

I didn't want to count on my limited skill as a liar to keep what had actually happened hidden, so I opted for petulant silence.

"Must've been quite the fall to leave the area looking like several dragons got in a disagreement."

 _Erk._

Right, the damage from whatever had happened after I'd been knocked out. I probably should've remembered that. I blamed the concussion.

"You should know by now that I'm a prodigiously poor climber." _Maybe she'll let it slide?_

Her smirk shrank a little and her eyes shifted. No such luck then.

"I wasn't born yesterday, Wallace. I know it had something to do with that girl who ran out of my gym earlier today, and not just anyone can so thoroughly beat a trainer who just earned my own badge."

Already uncomfortably close to the truth, and despite May's most recent actions I was still dumb enough to want to try and fix this.

 _But three's a crowd and May and I both already know she's committed a crime bad enough to get her team released. Maybe worse._

I allowed myself to grimace, dropping my cheery ignorance. "Yeah, you could say we've met before. To cut a long and unhappy story short, I've managed to say the singularly most offensive things to her on almost every occasion we crossed paths. I still want to try to make amends one more time, but whatever happens you have my word it won't affect Fortree."

Winona adopted a slightly bitter expression herself. "Jeez Wallace, I'm not trying to get a confession out of you or anything. I'm just worried for you. You seem like a good kid and I don't want to see you getting knocked out - again - just 'cause some girl you met doesn't know what 'diplomacy' means."

Whoops, guess I'd misread her then. Wouldn't be the first time I'd done that to someone today. "Sorry. It's just... go easy on her. May's... frustrated, and with good cause."

"Really? I never would have guessed." Winona reached out and tousled my hat. She jerked her hand away when I hissed a breath at the contact with my bandage. "Sorry. Just try not to change the landscaping too much this time, 'kay?"

With that, she crouched and leapt a good fifteen feet into the air onto the roof of the pokécenter before leaping into the trees back to the village proper.

 _So that's how she got the drop on me. Also, holy crap. She's almost a flying type herself._

Now I was left with my latest problem in the series of cautionary tales known as My Interactions with May. She'd been long gone by the time I'd woken up and I hadn't even the faintest idea of what her current thought process was.

Well, 'no idea' was a minor step up from 'guaranteed fury' so I was technically making progress. What's more I even had a way of checking without putting myself in immediate harm's way.

I pulled my nav from my belt and dialed May's number. It wasn't a cop out if it was the only real way.

It took her a while to pick up. I was glad she did at all.

"W-Wallace? Is that you?" Arceus Almighty, was that a _stutter_?

"Yeah, May. We need to talk. Can we meet somewhere? No battles, no yelling, just... talk? Please? Maybe without the concussions this time?"

Just because I was willing to give this one more shot doesn't mean I wasn't bitter. My team were my friends too and guidance aside, May _had_ hurt them.

The sound that came through the receiver might have been a gasp, a cough, a sniffle, a hiccup, or all of the above. None of those things were sounds I would attribute to the stubborn girl.

"Yeah. Where did you want to meet?"

We agreed on a spot a ways further down the path where we'd - well, where my _team_ had fought. I'd let them back out for the first portion of the hike but they would likely need to go back to their balls before I spoke to May.

I still didn't know how Imp (at least I assumed it had been her, Minnow's damage looked different) had caused so much damage after I'd been knocked out. But I imagined it might undermine my attempt at making amends if I set her up for a repeat performance.

What was worrying me almost as much was that Imp had refused to meet my gaze since I let her out. I didn't need the link to tell something was eating at her.

 _Something wrong?_

' _...'_

 _Everyone is safe and I have a chance of befriending May again, what's so bad about that?_

I wasn't even sure she was paying attention. I stopped and rested a knuckle on her heartpiece.

 _Please tell me what's wrong._

She started and glanced up before shifting her eyes away again. She didn't move away though.

I waited.

' _Why am I weak?'_

Huh. Imp had never seemed to care much about being powerful, which indicated this was recent. _Gee I wonder what she went through recently that might make her feel weak?_

I mentally slapped myself and drew my hand away from her implement

"Are you actually blaming yourself for me insisting I wouldn't fight May?"

She didn't answer, so yes.

"Imp, the only ones at fault here are May and I. And besides, that all of you were fainted when I woke up says all of you tried your hardest to defend me."

' _But we didn't try hard enough.'_

" _Yes, you did_. More than I've ever given you reason to. If you hadn't put up so much of a fight May might've kept going after she won." I didn't personally believe she would, but I'd been wrong around May several times already.

"You don't need to win every fight to still come out on top."

She seemed confused, but confused was better than guilt ridden.

The rest of the walk was quiet.

Unsurprisingly, Imp sensed her first. Even if I'd missed the feedback from Imp's senses I sure as hell wouldn't have missed the coiling spike of _fury_ from Imp herself.

"Alright, back you all go." I recalled all of them before Imp could work herself up too much.

I got about three steps further before I caught a sniffing followed by a loud growl. Mutt was still behind me.

 _How did I miss him?_ I'd have to figure out later because he was already trotting ahead with his nose to the ground.

"Wallace?"

Mutt and I both turned in the direction of the voice. May stood up from the log she'd been waiting on. One of us started growling loudly.

"Mutt, easy." I didn't want to ball him just to shut him up, especially in front of May, but I would if he tried to attack. May herself had a hand twitching near her own belt.

He kept growling, taking a very deliberate step forward.

"Mutt!" I stepped in front of him, bodily halting his advance.

He darted around me and leapt forward with an angry bark, I only just got my hands around him.

"Mutt, what the hell's gotten into you?"

He started to slip free, I grimaced before snatching his ball from my belt and drawing him into it.

Wonderful, this discussion was already going great. _What the hell was that?_

"Sorry. He normally listens better."

"It's fine. I get it. Not like I wouldn't deserve it or anything." Her eyes were glued to the gauze wrapped around my head.

I also got my first good look at her since I'd been knocked out. With the amount of worry on her face I was surprised her hair hadn't gone gray already and she looked tense enough to start compressing her ulcers into diamonds. The hem of her shirt was badly wrinkled where she'd been wringing it and she had a pretty impressive collection of scratches on her shins, most of which looked fairly fresh.

Honestly, she looked like shit, but that was hardly an assessment I could use in conversation.

"May, I'm not sure I could have provoked you more if I'd been _trying_ to."

"That's not an excuse for..."

"No, it wasn't. But what I'm saying is that neither of us is completely innocent here."

I was starting to realize that we'd both done such a great job of screwing things up that even with both of us wanting to put this all behind us, there was just too much crap to move past without something decisive or a lot of time.

"Look, Wallace. I know what I did crossed a line but... shit. Please don't tell anyone. I've spent so much time training my team and Mom'll be so disappoin-"

"Easy, May. I'm not going to tell anyone. I think Winona has an inkling, but I vouched for you so I think she'll give you a fair chance."

"You vouched for me?" I had never heard so much simultaneous hope and confusion in the same voice.

"Well, yeah. I mean I'd just as soon put all this behind us so I wasn't about to start poisoning your name. Actually, you know what?"

There was no physical barrier between us, all you had to do to get through stuff like this was to _decide_ to.

I walked into arm's reach and held out my hand. "Hey. My name's Wallace, it's nice to meet you."

May looked at my hand for a good thirty seconds. I'm not sure she knew what her face was doing, because she was not expressing a representative level of intelligence with her current expression.

Then she started crying.

"What. May, what-" _Why is she crying? What did I do? Bad! I did this! Why am I so bad at this? It's not fair, damn it!_

"May please I'm sorry why are you crying say something please-"

She just cried harder, full on sobbing really. I might've panicked a little. A lot.

 _I made a girl cry! It's the end times! Would the flutes help calm her down? I don't know!_ I continued to gesticulate uselessly in front of her while spouting half formed apologies.

I would like to say that I had some brilliant idea, that I hugged her or something and then everything was okay. That the nascent empathetic feedback I'd developed from my bond with Imp gave me some clear answer to _what was wrong._

That's what I'd like to say. What actually happened was that I panicked for two minutes while May cried herself out entirely without my help.

Finally, the sniffles came to a stop and the sky stopped falling. When she looked up at me she somehow looked both worse and better than before. The worry lines in her face had faded but everything was all red and blotchy. She was smiling too.

Girls are confusing.

"Hi, I'm May." She held her hand out.

"What? Oh, right. I'm Wallace, it's a pleasure to- wait. No. I mean, hello."

I truly was the pinnacle of human intelligence. I closed my mouth and shook her hand.

 _Okay, so we've just met. Now time to talk about things._

"So we should probably be getting back to Fortree. I left all my camping stuff in my room and I'd rather not sleep on the dirt."

"Yeah."

We started back down the trail in silence.

"So... how about that weather?"

Things weren't perfect, but compared to what they'd been, they were worlds better. Our conversations stalled more than once, but it was a small price to pay. Once we got back to Fortree and she stopped by the center I finally got to meet her team _off_ the battlefield.

I wasn't sure if she'd been planning for a surprise factor when she wound up starting with her slugma, but everyone else in her team except for Linoone had evolved since last time.

Well. since the last time I'd been conscious to see them, anyway.

The three she'd taken with her from Birch's lab had done especially well. Swampert, Blaziken, and Sceptile as they were now named all looked individually like pokémon I wouldn't want to tangle with. She'd also trained Linoone into the party's jack of all trades, which was unsurprising. Zigzagoons and linoones were so common that the amount of data collected on them made them the easiest to find TMs for. Lastly she'd also evolved a swablu into a modestly sized altaria, it wasn't quite as impressive as Winona's but I wasn't about to hold that against her.

Her meeting my team was a little bit trickier. I started with Cindy, being the most easy going of the group.

It was a little disheartening that I had to give May some pokéblocks to feed her before she trusted her. This might be harder than I'd thought.

Tentatively, Sylph was next as the most food motivated one who wasn't Imp. It took some time to get him down from chomps to nibbles but we got there eventually.

After Sylph came Marble. She was overall the calmest, and on a less optimistic note also the slowest. Ten minutes of coaxing got her to suspicious indifference where I decided to call it good enough. Rock types were stubborn and I really didn't want to push my luck after the events of today.

Now the hard part. Minnow could potentially cause the most trouble, but Mutt had already shown a ferocity I hadn't expected, and Imp was smart _and_ powerful.

I decided to start with Imp, she was the most likely to be reasoned with and I would have better luck with the others if I had her help.

"Actually, I might want to let her out out of range. She's... a little protective."

"Yeah, you could say that."

 _Dammit me, just go mention the thing we agreed not to mention why don't you?_

Once I got out of what I determined to be reasonable range I let Imp out of her ball.

 _We're going to talk to May._

Apparently Imp really hadn't been paying attention earlier because she went completely rigid.

' _Why? She will hurt you. She is angry. I don't want you hurt.'_ I wasn't as much hard words as a series of impressions.

"Because she's not going to try to hurt me any more and I want you to trust her now."

Imp looked at me like I'd grown a second head before all but shouldering past my consciousness and shuffling through my memories of today, no doubt looking for an example of why she was actually right. It would have felt horribly invasive if we didn't already do this kind of thing on an almost daily basis.

She eventually let out an unhappy hum when she got a look at May's more recent behavior with the three others. I also got an inadvertent glance at her own memories of the fight as she did so.

I was actually a bit glad that my team had lost. Leaving May at the mercy of Imp...

I may well have been the one running from that.

"So, you're going to play nice?"

She crossed her arms and gave a very human huff.

"All right then. Let's go."

We wandered back while I kept very close tabs on her emotions. Sure enough, there was a sharp thread of protectiveness and anger before she checked to see if I was paying attention.

 _I mean it. Be nice. Or at least cordial._

My authoritative stance didn't last very long, it's hard to retain composure when you're doubling over laughing. Cindy had decided to occupy herself with May's hair while I'd been talking to Imp.

May's response was to sit stock-still as Cindy continued to groom her already thoroughly salivated hair.

I really should have stepped in and done something, but the look on May's face... It took me a while to stop laughing, Cindy continuing to lick the back of May's head all the while.

"Wallace... what is your camel doing to my hair?" She asked very slowly.

I did my best to stifle my snickering. "She's grooming you. That's a thing girls do, right?"

Alright, I was going to make sure I had my camera on hand the next time I deliberately messed with someone. I couldn't just keep letting expressions like this go undocumented.

"Fine, fine. Cindy, want a pokéblock?" I pulled out one of the small candies and held it out.

She stopped mid lick and brought her ears up before trundling over to me and taking it from my hand.

"You're rewarding her?" May gave a visible shiver and tentatively moved a hand up to her adjusted hairstyle.

"Why not? Your cowlick is really quite spectacular." It was, too. Her shoulder length hair had allowed Cindy to form a good foot long crescent over her head.

"I think I'm starting to understand why you always wear a hat." She tried to flatten her new crescent and was discovering the strangely hair-gel like properties of Cindy's saliva. I suspected she would need to adjust her bandanna.

I decided not to comment, not the least of which was because she was right. I wore my hat basically all the time even before the little hairdresser joined the team, but now I had the excuse of hiding my now permanent curl. My most recent bandage made it tricky for my headwear but I managed.

Imp had just hovered a little bit in front of me but hadn't done anything overtly hostile yet.

 _See? She's beat Cindy last time, if she wanted to fight she already would have. We can trust her now._

She only glanced back at me before hovering forward. May spotted her approach and went quiet. I kept a very close eye on both of them but didn't move to intercept.

Imp stopped just in front of May, hovering a bit off the ground so she was looking down at the trainer. Slowly, she reached forward. May and I both went stiff, but this didn't look like an attack so I forced myself to stay where I was. Imp just took May's hand and - I felt my eyebrows raise inadvertently - brought it to her heartpiece.

That was about when she closed the connection so I couldn't tell what they were saying. My still underdeveloped empathy only got traces of confusion and determination, though from which of them I wasn't certain.

"You have my word." May's eyes went hard as she spoke. Not hostile, just...

A promise.

Imp hummed in acknowledgement and released May's hand before floating back to me. I couldn't help but notice that she casually turned her back to May.

She trusted her. I held in my celebratory shout, barely.

Now that just left Mutt and Minnow.

Tentatively, I decided on Minnow first. Imp could communicate with him and hopefully having everyone else calm would make things easier with Mutt.

I wound up doing basically the same thing I had with Imp. I brought him out of smelling range and had Imp help me communicate what I needed. He didn't appear to like the idea of me being around May any more than any of the others but I eventually wrangled a promise of cooperation out of him.

He wound up in more or less the same camp as Marble, not really trusting May but trusting enough of the rest of us enough to settle on indifference. I imagined that was the best I was going to get until May personally earned his respect.

And now for Mutt. Everyone else was calm and on my side, these were the best conditions I was going to get.

For a third time, I walked out of range and let him out.

"Hey bud." I knelt down next to him and gave him a scratch on the scruff, let a long breath out of his nose. "Want to go meet May?"

He only looked at me with an inquisitive expression, panting into my face.

It was strange, with everyone else on my team I could use Imp - or even myself to a lesser degree - to communicate what I couldn't with body language and pokéblocks. But Mutt was just as hard to read now as he was when I'd met him all the way back on my first day. No feedback, no vague impressions, nothing. This was going to be tricky.

I started walking back with him, making sure I would be able to block him if I needed to. It wasn't hard to tell when he caught her scent again. His ears perked up and his nose went to work.

"Mutt." I tried to convey authority and calm, but it was hard to tell if it worked.

I'd been thinking about that too. Maybe I'd been using empathy as a crutch, looking with my mind before my eyes and developing habits from there. Bringing me closer to everyone _else_.

I was out of practice, as for right now I would just have to hope that what he saw through the exp. share was reason enough to not try biting her. It felt... wrong that Mutt was the one I was furthest from on my team now.

Maybe it was the way we each acted. Where Imp had an almost-person level of intelligence, Mutt was a creature of instinct. An animal. There was no interim of thought, just see and respond.

My own experience with acting first and thinking later had already given me enough reason to avoid making a habit of it.

" _I wouldn't even be doing this if it wasn't for you!"_

 _Hey I wonder what happens if I get close to this cacnea- OH GOD MY LEGS_

 _I'm gonna scan this salamence's wings._

Or maybe that was just an excuse. I'd didn't want to think about what I was trying to excuse.

I stayed in front of him as we approached. Thankfully, my prediction of his behavior was accurate and he seemed somewhat assuaged by the rest of the team not reacting to her presence. Still, with how he was looking at her...

"Maybe we should just call this good. He'll probably come around on his own eventually, but I'm not sure forcing it'll help."

May only nodded, edging back towards where her own team was waiting.

Again, things were far from perfect. But this was enough progress for one day.

 _Small world after all._

After one of the most wonderful night's sleep I'd ever had, I'd made my way to the simple breakfast bar most pokécenters boasted where I'd spent a good ten seconds eyeing the man sitting in the corner sipping coffee and perusing a newspaper.

He hadn't fully turned my way yet, but I was almost certain it was Stephen. I wanted to check but it would be more than a little embarrassing if I asked and he wasn't.

Thankfully, I was saved the effort of figuring out a solution since he looked up and spotted me. He also did the same surprised squinting thing I'd seen Mr. Sullivan do.

"Wallace?"

"Stephen." I nodded and picked up my plate before making my way over to his table. "This seat open?"

"'Tis. I'm surprised; last I saw you, you'd only just started on your way to Mauville. Though, that was a few months ago now, I suppose. What happened?" He gestured to the bandage on my head.

"I may not be the _worst_ tree climber in the world, but in Fortree I'm close enough to count. But yeah, some stuff's happened since then we last met. I've already covered the western portion of the main landmass so now I need to survey the eastern chunk and what I can of the East Hoenn Sea."

I didn't miss the evaluating look he gave me.

"I'm afraid I'm not doing anything quite as interesting. My dad asked me to test a piece of tech from his labs since he didn't have anyone else out in this area."

That was interesting, I hadn't heard about any project that would necessitate a visit to this area in particular. It was possible I'd just misunderstood the pertinent details during my last visit to the labs, the lab techs had a hard time speaking leyman.

"I'm surprised he didn't ask me. I was just at the labs two weeks ago." I offered a shrug.

"They only finished the prototype a few days ago, I've been having a spectacular lack of success since then." He rifled through the bag next to his chair before drawing out a...

"Uhh?" I really wasn't sure what to liken the object to. Something between a handheld telescope and a police baton?

"The best name they've come up with is the 'Devon Scope', but that doesn't really tell you much. It's supposed to generate a 'chromo-diffractive field' or something like that, let's you spot pokémon who are camouflaged or invisible.

"Or at least it's supposed to, like I said I haven't had any luck yet." He put the device back in his bag.

"I think I can see where the problem of finding invisible pokémon might lay. Was there something specific you were looking for around here?" I _had_ actually picked up a thing or two about pokémon behavior since I'd started my expedition so maybe I could offer some insight.

"Kecleons. Supposedly they spend almost all of their time camouflaged so I haven't been able to pin any down just yet."

That name rung a bell. I pulled my pack off and fished out the small book on local fauna I'd picked up yesterday. I'd only skimmed it, but...

A few rapid page turn brought me to what I was looking for. A picture of an uncamouflaged kecleon with a brief description on the opposite page.

 _Lesse here. Bipedal... scaled... uses skin pigmentation for camouflage... cold-blooded... insectivore..._

" _Strangely, all confirmed kecleons have been observed to leave the red stripe in the middle of their body unaltered even when attempting to hide. Whether this is the result of some unknown rational or a simple inability is currently unknown."_

I could work with this.

"Where have you tried looking so far?"

"Well I know they're insect eaters and able climbers so I've mostly been checking the trees."

"Have you tried any potential sunning spots yet? They're cold blooded so they probably need to warm up in the mornings."

He blinked. "I haven't. I've mostly been out around midday and afternoon, I might go do that after I finish breakfast."

"Would you mind if I tagged along? I _am_ doing research on the local pokémon after all."

"I'd appreciate if you would, seems like you know what you're doing and outside of rock types I'm afraid I'm helpless."

"Thanks, experienced or not I'd probably be stuck around here for a while without any real method of pinning them down. Imp could probably help some, but even so..."

"Your kirlia?"

"Hm? Oh, she's evolved since then." I'd left my team asleep in my room, I poked Imp's connection to see if she was awake yet.

A sleepy shove was the only response. I allowed myself a smirk.

"She's still asleep at the moment though, looks like introductions will need to wait."

Stephen was giving me a weird look. "You Bonded with Imp? I'd have thought you'd grow closer to your mightyena after what I saw in Granite Cave."

I quirked an eyebrow.

"You just tested a psychic connection with her, didn't you?"

I nodded. He continued. "What I'm saying is that you planned your trip through the cave as much as anyone else, but when the fighting started it looked like you reacted on instinct. But whatever the case is, good for you. Not many trainers get close enough to their pokémon to Bond like that."

I quirked my eyebrow further. I'd heard about people bonding with their pokémon but I'd always taken it the sense of closely befriending them, Stephen was using the word as though it were a process or specific action.

He apparently picked up on my confusion. "You... _do_ know what a Bond is, right?"

"Let's say I don't."

Now he was the confused one. "Well... for lack of a better term, it's a bond. The result of a complete trust and emotional connection between the trainer and pokémon. The effects of it vary depending on what type of pokémon you've bonded with. Water types are supposed to be extremely capable swimmers. I've even heard of people making it all the way to Mossdeep from Lilycove all on their own. Flying types are known acrobats and in some cases can become unnaturally light - you've probably noticed Winona showing off. Psychic types pick up some limited psychic abilities. Telepathy, telekinesis, empathy, etc. You probably know more about that than me by now. Rock types tend to be very heavy and can develop limited tremorsense."

"Well it certainly looks like _one_ of those didn't stick." I grinned at him. His frame was almost as narrow as mine, I doubted he could be more than a hundred and forty or so.

He grinned right back. "Sure it did, I was three hundred and twenty eight pounds last I checked."

I had made the judgement error of taking a drink of orange juice as he'd responded. I can now confirm that shooting orange juice out of your nose is one of the more startlingly painful things in life. I took a moment to reboot my sinuses.

"You're- what? How does that even...?" I reached forward and poked his arm. I couldn't really put my finger on it (no pun intended), but he somehow _felt_ heavy, or maybe dense was the better word. It was like poking a fleshy rock. Something between foam and sand. It wasn't proof, but any remaining doubts that he was messing with me were effectively dispelled.

"I don't really know the specifics. You'd have better luck asking a gym leader. Might want to even wait until Mossdeep since you've bonded with Imp, I have no doubt the twins would be happy to talk your ear off about it. Anyway, who else's on your team?"

"Mutt's still around and Sylph has evolved all the way into a crobat, I'll introduce you to him when we head out. Minnow's a gyarados now too. I also befriended an aron now lairon named Marble and a numel named Cindy."

"Full six? Supposed I shouldn't be surprised. Good on you for keeping with Mutt for so long, can't imagine that would be easy."

I utterly failed to see what logic he had used to make that claim.

He spotted my most recent confused expression. "Your Bond. With Imp. Psychic types and dark types. Imagine me trying to train a fighting type."

Oh.

 _Oh._

Being a low power empath had not done me any favors in hiding my facial expressions.

"Whoa, hey. It's not like you're fated to release him, just makes things... difficult. Look, I should probably stop giving you advice. Pretty much all I've given you so far is hearsay anyway."

"Yeah... so how's your team been doing?"

We chatted back and forth while I tried to push his words from my mind. I had almost succeeded when my eyes wandered to the newspaper he'd put down.

In case you were wondering, orange juice and nasal canals still don't mix well. I was going to have to opt for a gentler morning beverage if I kept this up.

"Hey, are you done with this?" I picked up the newspaper while wiping my face, already unfolding the article I desperately hoped I hadn't seen.

"Yeah, go ahead. Something catch your eye?"

I didn't answer, I wasn't sure I could without swearing.

" _Gyarados Trainer prodigy on his way through the League Challenge!"_

It wasn't on the front page, but it was plenty eye catching with the video frame they'd snagged of me standing next to Minnow. The article went on to detail and generously embellish the accomplishments I'd reluctantly given them. They'd also done a remarkably good job of projecting where I was going next and when I would get there.

No name thankfully, but this was going to warrant a few calls.

I belatedly realized I'd gone silent on Stephen.

"Shoot, sorry. I just- rrgh." I handed the article to him. "That's the last time I trust a reporter. I need to make a few calls. I'll see you outside?"

He looked a bit surprised but nodded before looking down at the damning print.

I made my way outside and dialed Wattson.

I still had plenty reason to be be angry, but a short conversation with Wattson helped me put things in perspective.

"So they know which part of the continent you're on lad, that's not really new. Just keep your head down and try not to draw any more attention. Besides, they know you're too mobile to try pinning you down anyway."

By the time Stephen joined me outside I'd gotten my head back on straight. And with how the timing worked out I was able to invite May along as well. Our group was a bit crowded, but we could make it work.

The process of actually finding the elusive lizards was a surprisingly easy one. We found some reasonable sunning rocks outside the east side of Fortree where it was a simple task for Imp to pinpoint them. The scope wasn't even necessary, if Imp got too close they would suddenly drop their camouflage and turn a vibrant pink-red.

And I couldn't think of a single damn reason why. If this was indicative of their behavior in the wild then anything with a functioning nose could get within a few feet and make them light up like a giant 'eat me' sign. They seemed wary, but not overly hostile towards her.

"Wait, I think I remember reading about this somewhere." May fished out her pokédex and gave the bright reptile a scan. "Yeah, comes up as psychic type now. They change to match the typing of the nearest pokémon, I don't know the limits of it though."

So we did some testing. I had Imp keep distance while Stephen and I got close enough to scope one. We would need to do this without getting any of our teammates too close. A concept that was apparently entirely alien to May.

"Wallace, I get that you can go full Disney Princess on most pokémon, but these are dangerous. Are you sure you want to get too close?"

"May, I've hand fed a baltoy before. I know how dangerous this can get. Think of it this way - you can say you told me so if you're right."

She did not appear to like my answer, but decided against further arguing the point.

Stephen and I crept closer while he got the Devon Scope ready. There was a loud click from the device as one of the kecleons almost snapped into focus before giving an indignant cry and fading back into the rock, tracing its red stripe I watched it crawl to the other side of the rock where it lay back down.

Baiting them turned out to be remarkably easy. They approached the offered pokéblocks slowly but surely, adjusting their camouflage as they went. Eventually, I held one in my hand for one of the braver ones. It crept closer, step by step until it had its snout about where at the end of my hand. Then it nudged my hand and the front three inches of its head turned red-pink, giving it the image of the front half of its head floating a few inches off of the rock. It gave a small, alarmed chirp and took a step back, but didn't recolor its snout. Instead, it slowly allowed the base green to creep over its body, coming fully into view.

I was intrigued, needless to say, but I just kept the offered candy in my hand. It approached again and gave my hand a pointed shove with its nose. This time its whole head went amaranth but it didn't seem all that alarmed. My interpretation was supported when it absently plucked the food from my hand before crawling away, completely uncamouflaged.

 _Does... it think I'm a pokémon? Maybe it was just the Bond or something._

Good thing I had a way to test that.

"Hey Stephen, May, you guys saw that right?" I called from the boulder.

They nodded. Stephen looked intrigued but May had gone fully slackjawed.

"You..." She started.

"Yup." I answered cheekily. "Now come on up, I want to see if they do the same thing for you guys."

The lunatones and solrocks had been interesting because of how utterly alien they'd been. Kecleons were just the opposite. Everything about them made so much sense it was almost alarming.

It had taken almost half an hour for Stephen to coax a keleon close enough to touch, but once he did it turned a hard taupe and started treating him with the same indifference it had for me. May's test was strange for a different set of reasons. For starters, almost all of the kecleons refused to get within arms length and actively fled if she tried reaching for them.

It took me a minute to realise why.

 _She's been using conventional methods. She's probably been fighting almost every pokémon she crosses paths with. No wonder these ones are so skittish around her, and she, them._

This posed something of a problem. I'd put May in a place where she couldn't use her normal technique without looking unnecessarily violent, and she was understandably on edge about something like that after yesterday's events. On the other hand, I didn't want her to walk away empty handed and unsuccessful. She had as much riding on her expedition as I did mine.

So I cheated.

 _Imp, mind lending a hand?_

She hummed her response before hovering over to where May sat on the rock. Only a few of the braver kecleons were left, most having already warmed up enough or fled. Imp hovered to the kecleon closest to May. It colored just like the others had once Imp got close enough, and took a pointed step away from May as it did so.

It was always interesting feeling Imp talk to other pokémon. When she spoke with me, I could feel the rough difference of each of our minds, the little not-quite-human thoughts that flitted between the gaps. A bit like an accent from someone speaking a second language. When she communicated with another pokémon, it was like the accent came to the forefront and the language fell back. Pokémon were so much simpler and so much clearer than people. And given how similar it felt between the wide variety I'd been exposed to, I doubt it would be far off to say they all shared a language too.

I was curious needless to say, but that research was for later.

It took a bit of convincing, but Imp eventually got the kecleon to approach May. Even with Imp's help it took ten minutes to accept a pokéblock from May's hand.

It never changed color either. I didn't miss that she seemed disappointed.

Even so, I made sure to get some scans of the other remaining kecleons. There was so much data to be had here I almost wanted to just stay in the jungle and entrench here. But for all I knew there could be another pokémon even more fascinating lurking on some remote island in East Hoenn Sea, and in the end it was my job to go the distance.

Didn't stop me from getting several more pages of notes by the time we decided to call it quits.

It was mid-afternoon before we'd had enough. May left first, saying she wanted to get a little more done west of Fortree before the day was out. Stephen and I were left alone by the path.

"Well, today had been enlightening in more ways than one. I should be leaving too, I need to get back to Mossdeep and that means dropping the scope off first. I should be able to make it back to Rustboro by tonight if I leave soon."

"Hope I didn't hold you up too much. Want me to port you to Rustboro? I haven't been to Mossdeep so I can't cut off your whole trip, but..."

"Nah. I appreciate the offer, but Roc hasn't gotten to stretch her wings in a while. Look me up when you get to Mossdeep!" He called, letting out his skarmory and climbing onto its back.

"Will do! Take care!" I gave a wave as Roc jumped into the air and started pumping her wings, sending them both into the sky.

Then it was just me and my team. And Mutt.

 _Wait hold up, hold right the hell up. What was that?_

I glanced in Mutt's direction. Something... maybe where he was sitting, maybe his posture, maybe his gaze.

The effect had been so subtle I'd almost missed it. There was the five of us in a group and him following along.

" _It's not like you're fated to release him."_ Stephen's words echoed through my mind. The thought of releasing him hadn't even occurred to me before Stephen had mentioned it.

But...

I'd never _captured_ anyone on my team. Every single one of them had joined voluntarily, with the opportunity to walk away at every turn. But how long did that last? The first day? Week? Month?

 _If Mutt just got up and walked away, would I stop him?_

All of the sudden, I was feeling sick. I knelt on the ground.

"Hey Mutt." Suddenly the name I'd given him felt more derogatory than affectionate. "Over here bud."

He obediently got up and walked over to me. Following orders.

Everything felt wrong. It was like when I couldn't hold a conversation with Mom anymore, but this time I knew it was _me_.

I didn't know what to do, so I was stupid and did nothing. I spent the rest of the day doing research, vainly trying to keep him close and interact with him, feeling like there was something heavy dangling over my head, or maybe the dangling thing had just been brought to my attention.

Afternoon fell to evening and evening to night and I still had no idea how to fix the knot in my gut. With Mom we'd both come to some kind of equilibrium, we'd both changed. Here, my Bond was only getting stronger and Mutt was a dark type, a creature of instinct. We wouldn't change, we _couldn't._

A few more days passed. It kept getting worse. At one point it even got bad enough that I found myself asking who the extra food bowl was for. How long had this decline been going?

Three nights out from Fortree, we heard howling.

It was far off, but absolutely unmistakable. Something inside me slipped when I recognized the howls of wild mightyena. Mutt recognized them too, his head shooting up from where he'd lain down.

He leapt to his feet and let out a long, deep howl of his own. He stepped forward, but stopped before looking back at me.

I knew what was happening. I opened my mouth to say something. _Anything._

 _No, no words. Action._

I got up and walked over to him, kneeling down and giving him a full body hug. He didn't resist, but he didn't lean into it either. I tried to convey everything through the contact, noticing how warm his fur was and that his smell had changed from how I'd remembered it.

There was so much I wanted to convey. So much I couldn't.

Eventually, I broke off and went to my bag.

It took no small amount of digging to fish out the little azurill doll I'd bought those months ago. It had been buried all the way at the bottom of the pack.

 _How long has it been since the last time I let him play with this?_

Too long. Too little. Too late.

There was another group of howls, closer now. Mutt's eyes turned away for a long moment.

I set the stuffed toy down between him and the rest of the camp before taking my seat with the rest of my team and waiting.

 _It's your choice, just like it always has been._

Morning came. The doll sat on the ground where I had left it.

Mutt was gone.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: No, he will not be getting replaced.

Chapter 13: A Call to Action

It seemed particularly cruel of circumstance that I'd been nearly physically incapable of keeping Mutt in mind when he'd been on my team, but when he left...

I didn't get much done over the next few days. I stayed on the same section of trail and left the doll out every night before I went to bed.

It was always in the exact same spot when I woke up. Usually the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.

There were other reasons it took so long to make it through this stretch of the trail, though I suspect that was more due to my lackluster pace than a proportional increase in difficulty. I didn't like moping, but the whole situation was just shitty. I wanted to blame Mutt for not trying as hard as me to make it work. I wanted to blame Imp for - intentionally or otherwise - putting the wall there to begin with. I wanted to blame myself for being careless and lazy.

I know that truly blaming anyone over what had happened was foolish at the heart of it all, but knowing something and being able to live by it are sometimes two very separate things.

My team offered some consolation. The _rest_ of my team, rather. I would frequently find myself boxed in by Cindy or Marble as they not-so-subtly provided body contact. Sylph also took up the habit of staring at me while I slept. The gestures were meant well and offered some comfort, but little more.

Another full week in the jungle before I finally decided to continue on my expedition. He'd made his choice.

I needed to respect that. No matter how much it stung.

Having already spent more time than was really warranted for Route 120, I made my way to 121. It was still a good two day hike to Lilycove if I didn't stop. I was obviously going to take longer, but I wanted to head straight to Lilycove first anyway instead of branching south. Routes 122 and 123 had made things logistically difficult. I didn't want to backtrack if I could avoid it, but between Imp and Sylph the relative inconvenience of doing so had all but vanished.

So I was going to backtrack. I would get to Lilycove before turning back down to Mt. Pyre and covering the rest of the trails before porting or flying back to Lilycove to start my survey of the island chains.

All that planning concluded with me doing exactly what I'd already been doing walking and keeping my eyes out for any promising animal paths. It was late morning by the time I found anything that looked worth following. The narrow strand of packed dirt wound through the trees, the drizzle of rain last night made some of the spots muddy enough to spot tracks on.

Pawprints, of course.

 _Okay, I know I screwed up. I get it, you don't need to drop hints every twenty minutes that I'm... hold on. Those aren't mightyena tracks._

The difference was subtle, but the footprint stretched too far backward and had a sharper structure. And if I wasn't mistaken the claw marks were too deep as well. I didn't want to say anything just yet, but it was quite possible I'd just found another sample of divergent evolution. If you could get feebas and magikarp in the same river it was quite possible to find both mightyena and whatever this was in the same jungle. Too similar to ignore but too different to pass off as random variation.

But I'd read most of the fauna guide book by now and nothing else in this area made sense. Which was to say _nothing_ made sense.

Time for some tracking then. The soft ground made my job significantly easier, even if there were gaps in the tracks I knew enough by now to fill them in.

I'd been going down the trail for maybe a half hour, and having not yet found anything I started to reconsider my options. I had little problem with sleeping outside, but I did have something of a schedule to keep. I promised myself that if I didn't find anything in the next fifteen minutes I'd turn back.

Twenty minutes later I was pretending I was bad at keeping track of time.

It was hard to explain, but I knew that there was _something_ on this trail that warranted my attention. A full hour of hiking from the trailhead and leaving the animal trail altogether finally vindicated my instincts.

A scuff of pristine, white fur lodged in the bark of a tree. What was more disturbing was the disproportionately deep gouge in the bark right above it, two inches deep at least and leaking sap. The fur itself was too bright to belong to a mightyena even if I disregarded the damage, and even a linoone would be hard pressed to-

Something moved, it was barely a glance out of the corner of my eye but against the greens and browns of the forest it stuck out like a sore thumb.

White.

Imp was already probing, the sense of _absence_ as telling as a pinpoint. It was dark type or a combination thereof, whatever it was. If it had taken me this long to spot _any_ concrete signs other than a set of easily misidentified tracks and a tuft of fur, it probably made a habit of avoiding people as well.

I started plotting an approach, recalling everyone but Imp and Cindy. For something that had been so obvious I was having a really hard time-

Running footpads, somewhere to my left-

Another flash of white, much closer. Definitely canine. It was too brief for a proper scan though. The distance was plausible at that movement speed so I was probably only dealing with one instead of a pack.

Silence. I stopped and waited...

...

The forest was oppressively quiet. The low tension of prey in the presence of a predator. I kept listening, trying to focus through the rubatosis and tinnitus.

Cindy gave a startled snort and flared her core, bringing my attention-

It was less than a foot behind me, interposed in the space in the middle of our group. Exactly in the middle of the blind spot we had been unwittingly sharing. Its fur was almost shockingly white, even the flecks of mud on its legs did little to lessen the effect. Most peculiarly, it had a single asymmetrical horn in the shape of a sickle curving above its head.

I had never even remotely heard of a pokémon like this one. As much as I wanted to be fascinated, it was also dangerously stealthy, sharp, and well within pouncing distance.

Or rather, _I_ was the one in pouncing distance.

I went completely still, permitting only a tiny gesture with my scanner. It hadn't made any overtly threatening moves yet, but I didn't want to provoke it such that it might change that. Imp was also on guard, but even I could feel the psychic dead zone around it. A strange numbness exclusive to nonphysical sense. Cindy's blowhole was smoking and she was pressing with her front limbs but had thankfully realized I was immediately downrange of any counterattack she might make.

The... canine just kept staring at me for a long moment with uncannily intelligent eyes, allowing me to recognize some almost feline skeletal structures. Whatever it was, this pokémon was a hunter, and a very capable one at that.

Then it sat down.

I was confused. The more I thought about this situation, the less sense it made.

 _Is it trying to be friendly? Is this a trap?_ _Is it trying to tell-_

 _Stop thinking. Dark type. Don't think, just do._

Very slowly, I turned to face it fully before sitting down as well. Imp thought I was crazy, but as that was her response as a psychic type I just had to hope that meant I was doing the right thing. Deliberately, I pulled my pokéblock tin out and drew the regular assortment before laying them on the ground between us.

It watched very closely, but never got up to move. Only after putting the treats out did it finally take its eyes off of me. Briefly. After giving the small cuboid candies an appraising look it started staring at me again.

I tried very hard not to fidget. This was made much harder when it stood up and started walking towards me.

I wasn't getting any of the same sense of impending danger I had for the seviper so I had Imp and Cindy hold off on any preventative action. It got close enough to start pushing on my personal space and started sniffing. I sat there and tried not to sweat.

After a very thorough smelling, it looked up and almost seemed to focus on something in the distance. Statuesque, even. Almost to the point of-

"Ow! Shit!"

I hadn't even started to register the movement before it had snapped its head around and left a long cut down my left collar bone with its horn. Imp gave a loud ringing and started yanking chunks of earth and stone out of the ground to throw at the rapidly retreating form. Cindy added her own two cents of fire before rearing back-

"Cindy! Stop! It's gone." Didn't want her dropping any tremors with me still being in the blast area.

She gave an angry snort but dropped to the ground without the usual shockwaves. I reached up to the fresh gap in my shirt and glanced down at-

Nothing. There was a split in the fabric reaching about a foot down from the collar but my skin was untouched. This was especially confusing since it still hurt, less like a cut and more like a deep stinging. It was fading even as I examined the area, but still...

I forced myself to focus. I had notes to take.

' _Absol. Dark Type?* Disaster pokémon. 3' 5". 96.4 lbs. Female.'_

' _Little is known about this elusive and nomadic pokémon, the few confirmed sightings display a behavioral trend of only appearing between weeks to hours before some form of major natural disaster. Very few specimens have ever been professionally observed and in the unconfirmed cases of one being caught the trainer in question is often struck by some form of disaster or misfortune that always results in the absol's escape. Whether this is the result of deliberate action on the absol's part or a side effect of only appearing around impending destruction is unknown - correlation has been established, but causation is unknown.'_

' _* Insufficient confirming data. Subject to alteration.'_

 _Well gee isn't that just a bucket of rainbows._

I leaned back on my sleeping bag with a sigh. My little detour had cost me most of my elbow room and I'd only just been able to make it to the shoreside camp before night fell.

On a scientific and professional level, I was overjoyed at the encounter and successful scan. It might not quite be on par with May's three previously undocumented pokémon but it was still quite enough to grab my attention. On a more personal level, I was worried. Everything in the very brief profile said this 'absol' was _bad_ luck. And apparently I'd done something worth, well...

The attack hadn't _felt_ hostile strangely enough, and while the stinging had mostly faded I could still feel a dull ache where I'd been not-stabbed. Had it used some anti-psychic attack that hadn't affected me properly? Had it missed?

Had it marked me? Something told me yes, but I just had too little to go on to be sure. I'd need to ask Birch, maybe May could offer some insight too. Part of me wanted to call them now, with the measurably increased risk of impending doom and whatnot. But I was all but in the middle of Hoenn's largest jungle and the only piece of civilization at risk of being damaged nearby was the safari. So I would wait until morning and ask for their advice then. Until then, I would rest.

"You found an _absol_? Please tell you managed to scan it!" May had quickly forgotten to be awkward in favor of geeking out over the rare specimen. I distanced the nav from my face until she quieted down.

"Yeah, I'll transfer the data next time I drop by the lab. But back to my question, what do you know about them? Apparently they're native to Hoenn and I've literally never heard of them until I found one yesterday."

"Well, we do have a lot of stories about them. People can't seem to make up their minds whether they're some kind of prophetic omen or walking disasters, but it's agreed that they're bad luck. Supposedly the last real sighting made the news when a really bad storm hit Lilycove a decade or so ago. Speaking of, where exactly were you when you found it?"

"About a two hour's hike west of the Hoenn Safari, I was a good way off the trail too."

"Hmm, well I'm no expert - no one is on these things - but you might have just stumbled across one. I mean they have to exist outside of showing up near disasters and it's way too late for it be warning about Mt. Chimney."

That was all well and good, but that still left one particular inconsistency.

"I guess. Seems a bit weird to me. Are there any stories about them... marking people? Or anything like that?"

"Uhh. No. Why?"

Well I couldn't just _not_ tell her at this point.

"Okay, I'll need to ask you to bear with me for a minute because it did something weird and I'm not even sure what it was trying to do."

"Alright...? What happened?" She sounded about as unsure as I did.

"So, to be honest I didn't really find _it_ , it found me. It managed to sneak into the middle of my team's formation without any of us noticing until Cindy literally bumped into it. It still didn't attack though, so I tried baiting it. It didn't take any of the offered food and walked up to and... I don't know. The closest way I can describe it was that it tried to attack me, but it didn't _feel_ hostile. Like it tore my shirt with its horn but managed to completely avoid scratching me. Then it ran off."

May was quiet for a while.

"Wallace, has anyone ever told you that you are a magnet for strange things?"

"In not as many words, yes. And in _more_ words too, now that I think about it."

She snorted. "Well, I have no idea. Just keep an eye on where it scratched you and keep an eye on the news. Might also be worth calling people and telling them you saw an absol."

"Sounds like a plan, thanks May."

"Don't worry about it, and thank you too. And you better get that data uploaded." She ended the call before I could respond.

Bit rude, but oh well. It had sounded like she'd been in the middle of something when I'd called anyway. I dialed Wattson next, glad to have a reason to do so without needing to raise the alarm for once.

No, this _didn't_ count. Shut up.

I just gave him the general warning and what information I could before dialing Winona and doing the same. On an impulse I let Flannery know as well; omens of disaster right next door to the already problematic volcano? Probably warranted a heads-up.

I finally lowered my nav and realized that I had just casually called up three gym leaders. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

Whatever the case was, I had work that needed to be done. I got up and started packing up camp.

I was tempted to stick my head in the safari, but given its exclusive function as a _foreign_ wildlife reserve, there really wasn't much of a way for me to justify it after losing so much time to my detour yesterday. Especially when I learned that they didn't sell their bait, which was particularly grating.

 _Here we have an example of the fact that, not only can people catch pokémon without needing to fight them, but that enough people are capable of it to keep a very successful business running by making people_ pay _to do it._

Honestly, if the safari worked so well why did people immediately forget about it after leaving?

It soured my mood for the rest of my hike to Lilycove, only slightly ameliorated by most of the trainers on this stretch fighting with pokémon obviously caught in the safari.

Never thought I'd be relieved to see a city, but if it meant not having to deal with the dozens of inexperienced trainers that had been hounding the end of the route, I would take it.

The first thing I did was make sure I had a room at one of the hotels, but seeing as it was barely afternoon I still had time to try and meet with...

The lady from route 111, had I really never asked her name?

Great, so not only am I handsome and smart but I'm _unfailingly polite too._ I did have her nav number and recalled that she was a nurse so hopefully I could still track her down.

I was going to have to start somewhere, so I pulled out my nav and dialed her number. She picked up two seconds later.

"Audrey speaking."

"Hey Audrey," _that was easier than I'd hoped._ "It's Wallace, the trainer from route 111."

"Oh, hey! I was wondering when you'd get here. Glad you called on a Saturday, this week was busy. You check out the department store yet?"

"No, I was just planning on it but I haven't been yet. Care to give a hapless tourist the tour?"

"Why not? I'll meet you at the west entrance in half an hour."

She hung up without waiting for a response. She'd seemed a little sad and alone when she'd been house sitting. Now she had been talking fast enough that it had taken an effort to keep up.

I was a little unsure about what I'd roped myself into, but it was far too late to back out now. Time to head to the department store.

Sometimes, words like 'big' just didn't cover it. When I finally got to the structure, the closest comparison I could make is taking multiple shopping malls and stacking them all on top of each other until you had a building larger than some geological formations. It was like a babushka doll of capitalism. I took a seat near one of the six major entrances and waited.

I wasn't waiting for long, Audrey only showed up a minute or so after I did. My current theory was that she had Bonded with a grass type of some sort and drew energy from the people around her because great galloping gyarados I hadn't heard her inhale since she arrived.

"-other friends were all busy since everyone schedules things on Saturdays but last week was a monster and I'm glad I don't have to spend all of it alone this is one of my favorite places to get lunch when I have the time we should come back later after I've shown you around was there anything you were really looking for?"

The sudden lack of sound was more what brought my attention than the question. "Nothing in particular. I need to make more pokéblocks and I should probably restock on feed, but I don't even know what else is sold here."

She gave a grin at that, the sort that just kind of takes your plans for the day and leaves them crying in a little corner of your mind.

"Allow me to show you, then."

I now cut an extremely verbose description short and simply summarize the more relevant observations I made here. The vast majority of the small counters and stores that studded the enormous structure didn't warrant a second look. Hairdressing, clothing, jewelry, a raffle, a food court, even a mini-golf course. There were still a few stands that got a little more attention from me.

In particular, a TM vendor, one Audrey only gave a paragraph on as we walked towards it. I convinced her to stop long enough for me to get a look at the stock. Most of them were either entirely incompatible or not very useful, but there were a few surprises.

Good surprises.

 _Thunderbolt, probably not- wait what?_

' _... kirlia, gardevoir, slakoth, vigoroth...'_ The list of matching pokémon stretched for several pages. I really didn't want to start kitting out my team just to make them more effective in combat, but...

 _Really who would expect an electric type attack from a strict psychic type?_

I grabbed a disc and kept scrolling, I'd ask Imp before checkout. Or at least that was my plan until I almost dropped the disk when I saw another TM further down the list.

' _Hyper Beam'_

The list of matching pokémon was much shorter, which was understandable. I'd never seen it in person, but apparently it was among, if not _the_ single most potent attack most pokémon could learn without hurting themselves. There was Self-Destruct too, but that was frowned upon for many reasons, most of which I agreed with.

The TM itself was expensive, like made-me-think-twice expensive, but once I confirmed that Minnow could learn it...

What was money for if not to be spent? I also had very few doubts that he would resist learning something like this.

There were a few others I was tempted to snag, but nothing that warranted the extra money as my team would learn most of them on their own anyway eventually.

Once I was through the list and somehow forced myself to stay down to two TMs, I let Imp out of her ball.

"So, I found a thing. Interested?"

She perused the memory and the implications I lined up next to it. She didn't have eyebrows, but I felt the same general feeling of impressed skepticism associated with raising them.

' _I can shoot lighting?'_

"I mean, apparently. I don't want to force you to-"

' _I want lighting.'_

"Okay, it's fine if you're not sur-"

' _I want lightning!'_

"Well, if you're certain you don't want to-"

The next several seconds were spent wrestling to keep the disc away from my irate gardevoir. _'GIMME THE LIGHTNING'_

"Imp! Stop! I need to pay first!" I managed to keep the case away from her without dropping my grin and quickly made my way to the counter, Imp pulling herself back into her ball with a last pointed look. Audrey had been watching from the side and had an obvious smirk on her face, though surprisingly kept quiet through the encounter.

 _Actually though, this might not be my best idea. Imp's already plenty powerful, if she's as enthusiastic about using it as she was about acquiring it..._

I could feel her glaring at me from her ball.

Well, whatever the case was I couldn't just turn her down now. I _had_ asked after all. I finished paying and returned myself to the grip of Audrey's loquaciousness.

All in all, the tour didn't actually take very long. That said I'm fairly certain I've read books that had fewer words in them. Once we were done and had both done what shopping we needed to we made our way out of the building.

"So, what'd you think of the big bad Department Store?"

"I think if I ever have trouble hitting the word count on anything I'll be asking you for help. You have a remarkable talent for saying everything that could be said."

"Aww, thanks! So, you going to try those TMs? I know for a fact Hyper Beam is pretty expensive."

"I'm going to ask if they want to learn first, but I can't imagine a no from either of them. Want to watch?"

"Sure! Your gardevoir seemed pretty intent on that Thunderbolt. The south beaches are usually pretty clear, so we can head there if you'd like."

"Sounds good. Lead the way."

It was a bit of a walk with the Department Store on the northern end of Lilycove, which gave me plenty of time to actually converse instead of just listen. We talked about my expedition and badges, about her work shifts and other landmarks around Lilycove, about generally the same nothings and everythings we covered when I'd met her back on 111. We also talked about Mt. Chimney. I couldn't say too much, but it had only gone down about hafway since Magma's interference more than a month ago now.

I didn't have to pretend I was still worried about that.

We made our way to the beach and quickly found a spot where I hopefully wouldn't disturb too many people. We were under the southern cliffs when I ran the Thunderbolt TM and let my team out. While Imp was still adjusting to the new knowledge I waved Minnow down to my level.

"Hey, so I know you like being awesome and powerful, but I found a thing that might make you even more awesome and powerful." Imp absently helped me send the impressions to him.

His first response was to start nudging me with his nose, it took me a second to realize that he was trying to press the button on his ball.

I managed to contain my shock, somehow. The disc was taking a minute to run so I checked on Imp and Audrey. The latter was standing a little ways away and simply observing.

The former was flexing her fingers, ringing with focus. It was hard for me to tell what she was feeling, as only an honorary psychic type and limited in my experience with electric types. About all I could interpret was that it felt like using a metaphorically nondominant hand. After several more seconds of focus the ringing sharpened and started to change, less music and more crackling. A few sparks started jumping between her fingers before the effect cut off and she gave a hum of affirmation.

Then she held her hands near her heartpiece and abruptly shot a bolt of electricity from it with a loud crack, arcing a good thirty feet where it hit the sand. The magnitude wasn't anything like a Thunder, but I had a suspicion that I would find fulgurite if I investigated the impact. Audrey gave a few polite claps from the sideline.

That was about when the Hyper Beam TM finished, so I let Minnow out and climbed on his back. There were a few houses near the top of the cliff, and while I doubted Minnow would hit them I didn't want to start any trouble by firing lasers off willy nilly.

"I'd offer you a ride as well if you want an up-close, but..."

"Yeah, think I'll be staying right here."

I nodded, I wasn't about to push someone to ride a gyarados just to watch it pull off a Hyper Beam from its back. They were intimidating creatures to begin with. So once he had acclimated to the information I nudged him forward onto the water with Imp and Sylph gliding in tow.

Once we were about half a mile from shore I pulled Minnow to a stop and had Imp and Sylph stay well behind him. I would probably be safe closer to shore, but I didn't want to push my luck

"Alright then. Minnow, Hyper Beam!"

He started inhaling, drawing his head up and back. The sound was more subtle than I would have suspected, in addition to the rush of air there was a high sound, not unlike tinnitus. It grew higher and louder until he tilted his head backward and opened his mouth. I could see what looked like molten light starting to spill out just before the sound redoubled and he whipped his head forward.

The light streamed forward in a gout of opalescent plasma, not slowing at all as it contacted the water. It continued to lance through the ocean, sending ribbons of more mundane light rippling out of the surface as steam shot up from the surface.

Finally, Minnow closed his mouth and swayed unsteadily for a few seconds before laying his head down on the water with a splash. The whole process from start to finish wasn't more than a few seconds, but the results...

For the next twenty seconds, I watched the bubbles and steam keep rising from the open water. My mental math wasn't up to telling me more than 'holy karp'.

It was easy to tell that had taken quite a bit out of Minnow, he only brought his head back up off of the water once the bubbles stopped rising. His movements were more sluggish too, out of context I might think he was groggy.

I could not think of a single scenario in which I would need to bring that much firepower to the table. All the same, it was nice to have.

"Have to admit, that was awesome even for you. Let's get you back to shore and get you something to eat."

As nice as it was to catch up with Audrey, we both had things we needed to do. So only after yet another extremely verbose appraisal of Minnow's newest attack we went our separate ways. It was getting toward the evening by that point, so after a somewhat overpriced dinner at a restaurant of Audrey's recommendation I called it a night.

Then it was off to Mt. Pyre next morning. Imp teleported us to the shoreline near the safari before I let Minnow and Sylph out and set off over the water. I had done reading on the Ghost-type hotspot and had a remarkably hard time finding records of _any_ of the mountain's supposed residents.

The place had as much rumor and speculation as it did actual documentation, none of it helped by the often personal and elusive nature of the least understood of all the types. While this meant there was the most to be learned and thus most likely the best place to study in terms of an effort-reward ratio...

The island was a graveyard. Some measure of respect was warranted.

I spotted the mountain jutting out of the water some way off. Not like it was hard to spot, even with all the mist clinging to it. I think it was safe to say that the vapor was not an entirely natural phenomenon.

There was also a feeling as we got closer. I could tell it wasn't just me since Imp was picking it up too - and much more intensely, if the feedback was anything to go by. I realized I was mistaken when I'd described the absol as psychic dead zone, _it_ was more like trying to read words from a simple image, or trying to hear words in a sound.

Because _this_ was a dead zone. Like trying to take an extra step up a flight of stairs or taking a breath where there wasn't any air. It was only getting stronger the closer we got too. Imp even wobbled in her flight a little.

Much more of that and she was going back to her ball. I was also much happier with my decision of arming her with a non-psychic type attack in case she was stubborn about it.

We reached the island, colder and warier than before. The expected sounds of surf on the rock was barely a light splashing, muffled in the damp air. We went around to the docks on the south side, Minnow rumbling unhappily as we hit land.

"I'll let you back out if we get into trouble." I gave him a scratch under one of his plates before recalling him and Sylph. The only signs of human work were the wood docks themselves, a carved stone doorway, and a small shed a little way off the path.

The mountain loomed above us silently. I straightened my hat and strode forward.

The outside had been like thin mountain air or an unsettling quiet.

Inside was like how my nightmares interpreted space. Silent, empty, and cold as a frozen well. Imp had quickly started shivering violently, prompting me to recall her as well; leaving just me against whatever could occupy a place like this.

There were other people here too, to be certain. Standing silently in front of one of the many slabs that lined the surprisingly developed interior. One old woman was crying, the sound sharp and loud, unnaturally so. I would have said something, anything.

I found myself in the next room before I could find the words. The silence dug painfully into my ears. Imp's connection lay empty, like skin thrown across the floor. Minnow's comforting might, inaccessible. Marble's sturdy weight, hollow and brittle. Cindy's warmth, cold and damp. Sylph's swift and compact strength, confined and trapped.

Mutt's loyalty, gone. Mutt, gone.

I was alone. This world was empty now.

 _Something..._

Why was I on the floor?

 _... is wrong._

It was cold, the floor was so hard I would never be able to leave a mark on it. Just another soul passing without leaving so much as a whisper-

Someone slapped me. Hard.

"Ow!" I shouted a moment late, equally out of surprise and pain.

"Yeah I'm lookin' at you. Go on, get. If I catch you chewing on another mourner, it'll be lantern duty for a month."

I refocused in time to see what looked like a skull shaped lantern drift grumpily through the wall. Then I looked at my... attacker? Savior?

Nothing was making sense. The girl who slapped me looked about my age with dark skin, dark eyes, and a native summer dress with flowers in her hair. She was the only color in the room, standing out like an oasis of sorts.

"Psychic Bond and you're not burning incense?" This time her words were directed at me.

"Sorry?" I still didn't have my head screwed on quite straight.

"Ah, first time visiting Mt. Pyre then? Suppose I should have guessed, you couldn't have looked more like a meal if you'd tried. Come on, up you go." She grabbed my arm and hauled me up with an utterly unforeseen strength before gesturing for me to follow.

I did so, still not quite sure what was going on.

We made our way down several flights of stairs, most of which I hadn't remembered taking. We eventually came back to the crying woman. The girl motioned for me to stop as she approached the distraught widow.

Their conversation was too quiet for me to hear, but the woman looked better when the girl stood up again.

Then I was led all the way back out to the dock where I'd landed before I realized where I was.

"Um, I'm sorry. But what happened back there?" My own memory was disturbingly patchy.

"You attracted the attention of a hungry ghost, and you weren't burning incense so you were fair game." She walked to the shed and pulled out an impressive keyring before flicking through the collection. "Can't really blame you, though. It's a mistake everyone makes at least once. You're lucky I found you. No one is as tasty and easily caught as a fresh psychic. You broke down all the little walls in your own head, makes you easy to invade"

I digested the offhanded warning as she opened the door and started shuffling through the shelves.

"Here." She handed me a small pot with a few sticks of the aromatic substance poking out and lit the ends with a plastic lighter. "Right then, any family buried here? Friends?"

"Uh, no. I..." I suddenly felt bad, I was only here to study the pokémon and apparently I couldn't even do that without needing to be rescued by one of the caretakers. It also felt like a shallow reason to disturb the dead.

She gave me an evaluating look before narrowing her eyes. "Collector?"

"No. Just a trainer." Perhaps not strictly true, but I didn't catch pokémon to be showpieces.

"Good, cause I would have to throw you off the docks if you were. So what are you here for? You lose one of your team?"

I opened my mouth to negate. But she wasn't strictly wrong.

"... Not... like this." I gestured up at the mist cloaked mountain.

"Loss and death can be independent of each other. Besides, you only have five balls on your belt and your spirit is still raw from something."

Wasn't _I_ supposed to be the psychic in this conversation? I gave my answer in silence.

"Alright then, I'll bring you to the room. Follow me, don't want you getting gobbled up by another duskull after all."

We walked in silence. Up two flights and down a corridor. The burning incense gave off much more warmth than I would have suspected.

We came to a squat, marble obelisk. There was a ring off assorted items around it. A bell, a bow, a collar, a brush, a blanket, a food bowl, a chew toy, even a tiny sweater were only a few from the dozens.

"You don't have to leave anything if you don't want. But it helps." The girl offered.

I stood there for a while. Not really contemplating, just...

I missed Mutt. Even now I couldn't shake the feeling I'd driven him away, even if I'd given him a choice at the end.

Pulling off my pack, I dug through it for the again buried toy before pulling it out and taking a long look. It was a caricature of an azurill, with the two spherical balls of the head and bobble tail bound together by a black string. There was a dent in the side of the belly of the doll where something had been digging into it without moving.

It was still fairly new.

I knelt and placed it in an open spot near the obelisk. _To mistakes of the past. May they stay there._

It helped. Not healing or closure so much as the promise of both, eventually. I turned away from the memorial.

"We're about to have a service at the summit if you're interested." The change in subject was not subtle. I took it anyway and stood to follow.

Up a dozen more flights, stopping once so my guide could comfort a young man who'd been sitting in front of a blank stone with no expression. He was crying when we left him. An improvement.

Finally we exited the mountain, about two thirds of the way to the top. The air still as sleep despite the altitude, the mist seemed to part in front of us. I got the sense that it was the burning sticks of incense I was holding that pushed the encroaching fog away. More than any light or torch ever would.

We climbed up a few more flights before the trail finally leveled out and we came to a shrine. There was almost a hard line where the fog stopped and let the sun spill in like water. The shrine itself looked to be in a state of well kept dilapidation. The crumbled pillars were clean and the path was clear between the overgrown plants. Allowed to decay, but not grow decrepit. A testament to times well spent but long past if my guess was right.

It all seemed very appropriate. We joined the moderately sized group of people who had already gathered in the center of the shrine under the open sky. I was guided to a spot near the edge.

I wasn't able to identify the queue, but some amount of time later an extremely elderly woman appeared from... somewhere. I hadn't been looking in the right direction. She went about lighting the lanterns spread around the shrine in a very specific order in perfect silence. The only sounds being the occasional scuff or rustle from one of the group of attendees. The crone herself made no such noise.

Lanterns were lit, incense was burned, a single bell was rung. It had the feel of a ritual that had been repeated more times than days I'd been alive.

Which made it especially irritating that these people were so _noisy._ One of them had started bouncing his leg about halfway through and hadn't stopped yet. I could see sadness or even guilt making sense but why were they all so tense...

Thinking about it, why were they mostly twenty-something men and teens? And why were there so many of them? I'd only seen a handful of people on the way up but there were more than a dozen here.

I juggled my options, if I was wrong then I would be rude, if I was right then this would be very much worth it.

"I'm sorry, but are there typically this many people?" I tried to keep my voice as quiet as possible.

The still unnamed girl moved to shush me but not before darting her eyes around. It took her a moment, but she noticed it too.

She shook her head just a tiny bit.

Something was up, I put my incense down and drifted a hand to my belt. I couldn't just loose my team and start throwing orders, but if the steadily rising tension was any indicator then something was going to happen.

Soon.

I started fidgeting myself after another minute or so and noticed my guide was palming a ball of her own.

"How much longer until the service is over?"

She held up four fingers. A long moment later she lowered one.

Three...

Two...

Then, Ten. Nine. Eight-

The woman running the service clanged the small bell and everything happened at once. Almost everyone in the group released one or two pokémon, mostly zubats and poochyena but I spotted at least one numel. I released Imp and Marble, having Imp Imprison as many people and non-dark types as she could while I brought Sylph and Cindy out as well. The girl next to me released a... mummy thing that I scanned out of reflex and made my head start clouding.

Despite my and the girl's actions, the group mobbed forward without slowing down, upsetting the carefully lain offerings and forming a circle around the central pedestal. One near the center was barking orders.

"Hold them off! Wait for my command!"

I'd heard that voice before. One I associated with brimstone and cunning.

Maxie.

I ordered my team forward, whatever he was doing was likely worth the effort I could put into stopping it. The problem there was that the expectedly weak grunts were unexpectedly well organized, combining the natural ferocity of their poochyenas with the agility of their zubats to make things tricky.

That said, thirty seconds later the only left thing between my team and Maxie were the trainers themselves. Enough time for him to do what he needed to apparently.

One of the Magma grunts near the center fired a bright green flare into the sky. A moment later I spotted the flock of swellows and a single rider among them approaching. I realized what was happening a moment too late to stop it.

The birds dived, each one snatching one of the trainers and carrying them away from the mountain. Maxie was the last one off, on the back of a crobat.

I wasn't sure what to make of that. Even so, I called Sylph over and leapt onto his back before taking chase. I hadn't gained much ground before Maxie spotted me and shouted something before breaking off and diving for me.

I had practiced riding Sylph with Winona to be certain, but I'd never _battled_ from his back. The same could obviously not be said for the Team Magma Leader. Even before I'd lost sight of the rest of the mooks it was obvious I wouldn't be able to chase them down with Maxie hounding me. I circled a few times, saying several unpleasant things not quite under my breath before turning back to the mountain.

But not before we locked eyes. This wasn't over, and both of us knew it.

I landed back at the shrine. Imp had managed to keep a hold on two of the grunts and their pokémon. Impressive given how badly we were outnum-

Cindy had also evolved while my attention had been split. Either that or she'd been spontaneously replaced with a large, red, volcanic camel.

"Cindy? You alright?" I asked carefully, putting myself in front of her.

She squinted up at, snorted a surprising amount of ash into my face, and stuck her tongue in my eye while I was trying to brush it away.

"Yep, you're fine."

Once I finished brushing the grit and saliva from my face I took in the rest of the shrine. Imp was grouping the remaining pokémon and trainers as Marble observed. The few other service attendees had apparently been dismissed or fled. The old lady and girl were still there and the latter still had her - I took a glance at my pokédex - Dusclops out, thankfully keeping distance from Imp's barriers. The girl herself looked like she wanted to break something expensive and was only restraining herself on behalf of the old woman. I made my way over to them and only got halfway before the girl directed her eyes to me.

I had long since gotten used to Minnow's draconic gaze, so it should mean something when I say the look in her eyes made me flinch.

"Did you get it?"

 _Think fast Wallace, apparently they stole something. Maxie was the most likely to be the one carrying it but you were outmaneuvered. How can you phrase that so she doesn't kill you?_

I shook my head with a sour expression. "Too fast."

Good lord did she kiss her mother with that mouth?

The old lady halted the tirade by putting a hand on the girl's arm, almost immediately bringing all the anger down to a sharp bitterness.

"I am sorry you could not retrieve the orb. I never imagined we would be accosted by thieves in the middle of a service." The woman spoke with a voice that made me think of storytellers.

"What is this world coming to? Is nothing sacred anymore? We don't even know where they're headed and we need to keep the orbs from staying separated." The girl said to no one in particular.

"I'm sorry, but you're making it sound like what they stole, the orbs, are dangerous. What are we looking at if we don't get them back?"

They glanced at me before exchanging a glance. Budding psychic abilities or not I could tell they'd just had a whole conversation.

"So, how much do you know about the native Hoenn creation myths?"

"Uhh, not a lot. I only moved here a few months ago."

"Okay, so the thirty second version is that there were three great pokémon who showed up when the world was only just being formed. Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza. Groudon made the land, Kyogre filled the oceans, and Rayquaza guarded the sky.

"Now the important part of this is that when the world was done being made, Rayquaza created the two orbs and bound them to its siblings. They keep them asleep. But if either Groudon or Kyogre were to awaken... Well, magma flows and tidal waves would probably destroy more than they create nowadays."

That... was a lot to take in. The legendary pokémon were often regarded with a sense of detachment - no one ever saw them and no one had ever met someone who'd seen them. But this girl had just rattled off the existence and function of three of them like it was old news.

Well, if a meteorite could cause a volcano to erupt I suppose a pair of ancient artifacts hidden in a shrine for the dead could have some pretty ugly repercussions too. And more to the point, it sounded like we were about to have another Mt. Chimney on our hands.

But there was still one thing that didn't make sense to me.

"I can see where it's bad that one of them just got stolen, but why do they need to be together?" _Because keeping them in the same spot seems like a pretty serious security oversight._

"They only work when they're next to each other. Or at least we think so. We don't actually know, this has never happened before." For the first time since I'd seen her, the girl looked worried.

"We need to act." The old woman spoke again, shuffling over to the stone sculpture in the middle of the shrine. I could see where the front of it had been broken off, revealing a small compartment. The caretaker reached in and pulled out a gleaming red sphere. "Take it, and rejoin it with its counterpart." She handed it to me.

I instinctively held out my hand and accepted the precious object. It looked like glass but it was heavier than it should be, closer to a shotput.

"Uh, I'll do my best of course, but aren't you being a little fast to trust me?" From what I'd just been told, she just handed me the means to drop an apocalypse on Hoenn by simply being in the wrong place.

"Wattson told us about you, Wallace." The girl offered. "I didn't recognize you when you first showed up, but your team is hard to miss. I'm Pheobe, by the way."

 _Why does that name sound familiar? And why did Wattson call them?_

Too many questions. Too many dangerously active volcanoes.

"Slumbering or not, Groudon's might cannot be contained. Go to Mt. Chimney, and save these fools from their dreams."

Nothing for it, really. There was work to do.

I put the orb in my bag.

"Okay."

The vertigo had barely started to slow before I pulled out my nav and dialed Wattson. I walked towards the entrance of Flannery's gym as I did so, glancing up and noticing that the volcano had actually calmed down a little since I'd seen it last.

Pity.

"Wallace! Something happen?" Wattson's voice sounded from the receiver.

"Magma's making another move. They think Groudon's asleep under Mt. Chimney and they're trying to wake it up. I've no idea if it's true or not, but I'm not going to gamble on them being wrong."

I rationally understood that what I was claiming was far-fetched in even the most forgiving contexts, but hearing him actually pause cemented it.

"I'll see who I can send, have you warned Flannery yet?"

"I'm in her gym right now, I just need to find..."

Imp pinged me and pointed to one of the minds we could feel. If my memory served me right it was outside Flannery's office. We teleported straight to it.

"What- Wallace? Hello. Is something-"

"Magma's back, I'm putting you on speaker, Wattson."

"Understood lad. Now, you got any details?"

I explained everything I could with what had happened at Mt. Pyre. Flannery and I were outside and she was rounding people up as I finished my irritatingly short list of information.

"So we're not sure when they'll be getting here?" Flannery asked, visibly tense.

"No. They were only flying last I saw, but given how fast they got the meteorite there I'm certain they must have at least one teleporter. That and they know that _I_ know they just stole the orb they'll either wait or try something _now_."

"I still have people watching the summit and I've sent them a BOLO, but I haven't heard anything back yet. Any ideas where-"

The ground gave a small tremor before it _bucked_ with and angry rumble. I stumbled backward and almost fell over, the effect had been brief but... I looked up at the volcano.

The cloud of ash had just redoubled, maybe even more. That was easily as much as the meteorite had brought up.

"Flannery, do you have your team with you?"

"What? Yeah, of course I-"

I grabbed her around the waist and had Imp teleport us to the summit. There was a startled bark from behind us as I released the gym leader, she staggered a little and brought hand to her head as I turned to the source of the noise.

There was a panicked looking ranger with a growlithe looking back at us. "Flannery! What's happening?"

"No one's come up here?" I asked over him.

"No, cable car hasn't made a trip since this morning. Why's Chimney going off?"

I let Flannery take over while I started brainstorming.

 _Pheobe didn't say how long the orbs could be separated, is Magma just playing the waiting game now? Letting Groudon do all the heavy lifting from a safe distance?_

That didn't seem right. Call it a gut feeling, but Magma was _here._ I brought a hand up to rub my collarbone. So where else could they be?

 _They're not at the summit and I doubt they could set up in or near Lavaridge with The League on high alert. Could they be in the old lava tunnels? Could work, but they see no small amount of traffic. Though none of the public ones could get to Groudon's hypothetical den._

"Flannery, are there any abandoned or unused tunnels around Chimney?"

She stopped and took a thoughtful look while she followed my train of thought. Then her eyes went wide.

"Yes. The South Slope Tunnel was closed because of how close it came to the active magma flows."

Bingo. I let Minnow out and climbed on his back. "Can you give me directions?"

She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, then put on a conflicted expression. I held a hand out. She paused before taking it and letting me hoist her up. Then we were off, down the mountain. A few keystrokes later and she was yelling instructions to the rangers we'd abandoned while pointing where we needed to go.

A few long minutes later and turn off of the beaten path, we came to the mouth of a cave. It was just large enough for Minnow so we kept going.

For about a hundred feet. Then we hit a wall. A reinforced steel wall that looked as though it might function as a door as well if the hinges and rails were any indication. At least it confirmed my suspicions.

"Yeah, that's not supposed to be there. How the hell are we supposed to get through that?"

I jumped off of Minnow and let Marble out. "Rock Smash!"

Marble gave a loud huff before bounding forward and smashing herself into the metal barricade. The way she pinged off would have been comical if the situation weren't so dire. I had her try one more time before calling her back.

Time to up the ante. Flannery had gotten off of Minnow and I gestured her back as I ran behind him myself.

"Minnow, Hyper Beam!"

Even if Flannery's torkoal was powerful enough to melt a hole, I suspected it would take far too long even if the steel _wasn't_ heat resistant. Good thing Hyper Beams encompassed a good deal more than heat.

The light gunned forward and splashed off to the sides, making the edges where steel met stone cough dust with a loud grinding. For a moment I was afraid it wouldn't get through. Then the sound of shearing metal joined the ringing and the whole surface seemed to warp and buckle as the energy streamed through it. By the time Minnow was done, the wall as a whole had moved a few feet back with a twisted metal opening through the bottom.

I gave Minnow an ether before drawing him back into his ball and running for the opening. My ears were still actually ringing from the sound, but I was fairly certain I was hearing shouting and sensing agitation and fear from the other side. I jumped through the hole with Marble and Flannery close behind before loosing Imp, Sylph, and Cindy as well.

Unsurprisingly, the grunts mostly broke off and fled. One of them was frantically yelling into a radio.

"Imp, Psychic!" The device was violently ripped from his hand and smashed against one of the walls before he ran too. "Impris-"

"No time! We need to find Maxie!" Flannery grabbed my arm and pulled me forward as she ran past.

We sprinted through the surprisingly developed underground complex, Marble sending the few grunts we encountered running before they tried to stop us. The air was rapidly heating up the further we got.

Most of the cave looked to be untouched save for strings of lights adhered to the walls, but there were clusters of sophisticated machinery tucked into various alcoves. Most of them seemed to be sounding alarms of some sort, adding a harsh edge to the perpetual sound of shifting earth and echoed shouting.

Using the rising heat as a compass, we kept running further into the shaking volcano. My sense of location put us near the primary vent, we'd already passed two pools of bubbling rock so it couldn't be much further.

I just had to hope we weren't already too late.

After what had to be several minutes of solid running, Imp pinged me and pointed to two of the minds near what had the be the center of the mountain. One was bright and passionate, edging towards anger. The other was filled with pride and an undertone of excitement.

Two more turns confirmed my guess. Tabitha and Maxie saw us as we ran into the chamber, the former yelling something before running towards us.

"You get Tabitha!" I shouted to Flannery, mostly to make it look like we had a plan in spite of the fact she would have done it anyway.

I pretended not to notice that Flannery opted to full-body tackled Tabitha and started yelling something as I ran past them. Maxie's team was already out by the time I got to him. We didn't waste time with banter.

My five to his crobat, camerupt, and mightyena would normally have been an open and shut fight, especially with Minnow lending a thorough type advantage. But I was not the only one who had been training.

His camerupt kept Cindy and Marble tied up while his mightyena doggedly chased after Imp. Sylph and Minnow were having a hard time trying to pin down his Crobat too. I hadn't even had time to try structuring my advance before everyone was forced to commit. I needed switch tactics.

"Imp, Thunderbolt!"

Good thing I had just the solution.

The attack lanced out and connected to the crobat, making it spasm before it flew into a wall. Then it was five on two.

The fight didn't take much longer. No sooner had his camerupt toppled over then I ran forward and tackled him.

"Where's the orb!" I grabbed his shoulders and gave him a hard shake, more out of desperation than actual tactic.

He stayed silent, only glaring up at me.

I didn't have time for this. "Imp, help me with this!"

I have no doubts that what I did next likely broke the law, possibly in several places. But at the moment I couldn't see any other options. With Imp serving as a conduit I threw myself into his mind and started _digging._ It was hard to ignore the spasms and strangled yells of pain while I was still on top of him. It also didn't help that I had never done anything remotely like this before.

Flickers, images, memories sorted more by emotion than reason, all of it fragmented and warped. I needed to work fast for a multitude of reasons. The whole place was putting me on edge. Why was the _mountain_ angry?

 _If we go by what he associates with me..._

 _The meteorite, the shrine, the volcano, the orb! Now where..._

He was holding it. He'd taken it out while I'd been searching. I reached forward to grab it-

Blue.

I fell backward, trying and failing to blink the color out of my eyes. It wasn't even doing the weird inverted color flashing thing like what happened after you looked into a bright light, even after blinking for several seconds I still had a blueish tint to my vision. Either that or the rocks were changing color...

No, they weren't changing color, they were just in a bluer light now. Light coming from...

Oh Arceus help us.

What I had taken to be the far wall of the central magma pit was covered in now glowing blue circuitry, and it was getting up. It wasn't the mountain that had been angry, it had been _this._

I could only watch as ancient stone crumbled and fell away, revealing the singularly largest creature I had ever seen. Superficially it had a body type not unlike a sandslash, albeit more reptilian and heavily plated. It's claws also looked big enough to grab Minnow with room to spare. And its eyes...

I looked into the face of a god, and the god looked back.

And it was _fucking livid._

It roared. A sound too loud to describe, probably because I felt something in my left ear tear before the sound suddenly halved. Bringing my hands up hadn't helped at all. Despite the rush of dizziness, my sight remained unaffected.

So I could see in clear detail as it stepped out of the pool and the magma followed it.

We needed to leave, now. I recalled everyone in my team except Imp and started towards Flannery-

There was still someone behind me, Maxie was holding the orb and still had a confused expression. He was also was mouthing something I couldn't hear and not moving despite impending doom.

Groudon had moved its attention to him. If I left him there he would die.

I'd like to say I didn't hesitate. I really would.

I ran back towards the advancing force of nature and grabbed the stunned Team Magma Leader, hoisting his surprisingly light body over my shoulder. Not pausing to wonder why I had suddenly gone insane, I ran back towards Flannery.

Apparently they had opted for a more... personal form of battle. Tabitha had a shiner, a fat lip, and at least one eye that was promising to blacken. Flannery's nose was crooked with a trail of blood flowing out of her left nostril and her ponytail had come undone. They were both fixated by the legend standing less than a hundred feet behind me.

No time to ask permission. I closed the distance and did my best to grab both of them in one arm before having Imp teleport us to Lavaridge. There was more vertigo than usual, but everyone got to the other end.

I unceremoniously dropped Maxie on the ground. "You have anything to tie him up with?"

Flannery wasn't even looking at me, she just had a horrified expression pointed in the direction of the volcano. I knew what I was going to see, but that didn't make it any easier to confirm.

I looked to the mountain.

Mt. Chimney was erupting. Not just spraying ash and rumbling threateningly. This was a real volcano we were dealing with now. Lava and everything. Had the sun always been this _bright_?

But Lavaridge wasn't gone just yet.

Even as people were frantically running around, there were organized groups partitioning the chaos. A squad of policemen was gesturing to the fleeing civilians, pointing them all down to Route 112 and keeping them moving. Another was running up the path to the summit with an onyx and a team of varied ground types in tow.

Good to know I wasn't the only one trying to put all the fires out, even if that saying was a little too close to literal to be comfortable. The sun was _really_ hot.

"Flannery, we need to go!" My voice sounded quiet to my own ears, the effect wasn't helped by her continuing to ignore me in favor of glaring at Tabitha and mouthing something angrily.

Actually...

I raised a hand to my left ear and snapped my fingers.

Nothing.

I tried again with my right and no small amount of trepidation.

The quietest of snaps. So I wasn't completely deaf, but talking was not going to work for communication. I grabbed Flannery's arm. Once she was looking at me I gestured to my ears and shook my head before making the 'hurry up' gesture.

She looked startled before bringing a hand up to her own ears and her eyes going wide. I made the gesture again. She snapped to and pointed to Tabitha and Maxie before fisting her hands, turning them up, and crossing her forearms at the wrist.

Tie up, or maybe just contain. Thankfully I didn't have to figure out what to do with the wanted criminals as an older looking ranger ran up to us at about that moment. He started to say something before I cut him off and yelled 'WE'RE DEAF. YOU TAKE THEM.'

I just hoped I was enunciating properly.

He looked a little surprised before pulling out his radio and muttering something into it. Once he was done with that he pulled a tightly coiled bundle of rope and went to work on the Magma leaders.

They'd both been staring up at the volcano in poorly concealed horror since we'd teleported out. _What else had they been expecting?_

Another ranger joined us as the first just finished binding them. They exchanged a few hurried words while I despaired my inability to read lips. Then the second ranger waved to Flannery and I with a 'follow me' gesture. He started leading us to the pokécenter at a hurried clip.

 _Center's probably going to be pretty busy soon, what with a goddamn volcano going off a few miles away. Maybe I can still help._

I tapped the ranger's shoulder to get his attention before pointing to Imp, who had been trailing closely since we'd gotten out of the volcano.

"WE CAN TELEPORT. WHERE SHOULD WE GO?"

He looked surprised before saying something in response.

"STILL DEAF. POINT."

He paused before pointing south.

"MAUVILLE?"

He nodded. I pointed to Flannery with a questioning expression. They both shook their heads.

Looked like I had served my purpose then. I turned fully to Flannery and made sure to meet her eyes.

Not really anything to say, we'd both tried our hardest and it hadn't been enough. I nodded before taking Imp's hand.

Then we were gone, leaving a doomed town behind us.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: You thought I was done dropping bombs. YOU WERE WRONG. And what's more, you still are.

*Evil cackling*

Actually though I should also thank everyone who's been leaving reviews, I wanted to drop this story before we even got to Mauville the first time but it's been great now that I've started to get to the stuff I want to write. Also, a hat tip to Decidedly Deciduous who's been doing a remarkable job catching my grammatical slips and offering word choice. You guys are great. That said, it's finals week so this still might be a bit rough around the edges. Now then, here's what everyone showed up for.

Chapter 14: Chasing Water

I had Imp take us to Wattson's gym first, I wasn't sure when I'd dropped the call but my nav had been blank when I'd checked it just after landing. It was a bit disquieting when I could barely make out the constant buzz of the electrical towers.

Embarrassingly, he'd found me. I'd only just sensed him when he was right behind me.

"CAN'T HEAR. YOU KNOW ABOUT CHIMNEY?"

He gave a curt nod before grabbing my head and none too subtly turning it to the side. The sensation drew a strange, wet feeling from the left side of my neck. I brought a hand to the spot and picked at the caking material, bringing a piece into view.

Blood, already drying. It wasn't hard to trace it up to my ear.

Apparently that roar had done more damage than I'd given it credit for.

I only just had time to more fully realize my condition before Wattson took my arm and started dragging me towards the doors with his other hand holding his nav. Once we got to the lobby of his gym he passed me off to one of his trainers before giving me a very direct look and pointing to the trainer.

I'd been passed off three times in possibly as many minutes and I was already starting to feel like I was being treated like an invali-

Wattson _looked_ at me.

I agreed to follow the trainer. Four badges above him or not, now was not the time for being petty.

I was quickly escorted to the Mauville pokécenter where I had to do thankfully little talking. I suspected the trainer had to name drop more than once, but eventually I got shuffled away where someone could look at me.

The whole process was something of a whirl where I got passed off another half dozen times before I got plunked down in a room of my own.

Unfortunately, that meant I got time to think.

The events of today had not been good. Not even by the most generous stretch of the word. Everything had gone from 'mostly under control' to...

Hoenn was going to have one less town by the time the week was out. Maybe more if we couldn't figure out how to calm Groudon. There was also the matter of what I'd done to Maxie. Imp and I had gotten used to wandering through each other's heads almost as much as we did our own; but the thought of someone else just forcing their way in and reading me like an unwilling book?

I felt... dirty. Whatever his issues, Maxie had apparently proven himself worthy of unconditional devotion of his team if his crobat was anything to go by. It was possible he'd just been manipulating them, but if he wasn't...

Eventually one of the nurses actually stayed for more than a minute and got a diagnosis together, not that it was hard with the trail of blood running down the side of my head and my inappropriate volume. I couldn't sign either so we were reduced to cumbersome gestures and occasionally just writing things down. One of the first things I requested was for my team to be treated. I only had to be fairly insistent before the nurse gave what could only be a long-suffering sigh and guided me to one of the empty trays. After that I was led back to the room and did my best to be the model patient.

At one point she had to leave to go grab a form, apparently I needed some tests for my left ear that needed written evidence of permission. From what I knew that was reserved for things like surgery and little else.

I might have been a little nervous during the wait. Once she came back and I got the necessary papers signed I was led off to a room with a single chair surrounded by smooth, sterile, white machinery.

If being an empath had lessened my ability to hide my thoughts, being deaf had only made it worse. The nurse gave me a comforting smile with a surprisingly minimal undercurrent of pity. At least it wasn't resignation, if I was reading her right then she suspected I wouldn't have much to really worry about.

I sat in the chair while the nurse got the relevant machinery running. It was a bit eerie watching some of the larger medical scanners gilding around me in silence with the smaller ones circling my head. Thankfully, the process was short. I was led back to the first room where I was left to wait once more.

Alone, deaf, and fresh out of a catastrophic failure it was hard to shake the feeling that there was something going wrong. I rubbed a hand on my collarbone and grimaced, if there was a time for Aqua to act while everyone was distracted, this would be it.

But Wattson had to know that.

Right?

The doctor chose that moment to walk in. The same nurse followed him in and handed me what looked like a detached earbud and gestured to her right ear. I inserted the device and immediately noticed the return of some measure of sound. It was audibly tinny and still not as loud as normal volume, but it would do for a conversation, which I suspect was their reason for giving it to me.

"So, Wallace, correct?" The doctor started, voice sounding strangely distant.

I nodded. "Yes sir."

"I would normally try to explain things slowly and let you adjust to the information I'm going to give you. However, given the immediate situation and Wattson's trust in you I think we can afford to be brief."

"Sounds fair. How bad's my hearing?"

"For your right ear, it looks like the damage is mostly superficial. There was no major damage that really dug into your inner ear, so your hearing should come back on its own with time. We have treatments that can aid the process but it's likely to be months or more before you're all the way back up."

Inconvenient, but not unexpected. I was going to need to get in the habit of using a hearing aid then.

"And my left ear?"

He pursed his lips. "I have no idea what you bumped into, but it must have been ugly. Your left eardrum is ruptured and somehow you managed to fracture your stapes, the bone that transmits the sound directly to your inner ear. Corrective surgeries are possible, but even then you might never hear with your left ear again."

...

 _Maxie, I want you to take this very personally._

 _Go fuck yourself with a cacnea._

"What would the surgical option look like?"

"Your health care would have that covered as an in-field trainer working for a lab, but you would need two to three weeks' recovery even if it does work. Odds are not favorable I'm afraid - only around a 40% chance of recovering even partial hearing, and less than 10% for full."

That was too long, not that I hadn't been expecting it. I told the doctor as much.

"I was afraid you might say that. And while the choice is yours, I need to stress that if corrective action is not taken soon then your stapes will fuse out of place and render any future attempts of ineffective or extremely invasive. It's now or not at all."

 _Repeatedly._

I wasn't an idiot. I could see what was happening. I'd barely been on an expedition for a few months and I'd already accrued a not insignificant list of injuries.

Spraining my ankle in the cable car, cutting my hand on Mt. Chimney, the spines from the cacnea, the still forming scar from my failed attempt at tree climbing, the concussion from May, the achey not-scar from the Absol on my collarbone, and now deafness in my left ear. By most measures of rationality I should be doing what I could to mitigate the damage before it started - or kept, rather - getting away from me.

But being out of commission for two weeks? Right now?

I shook my head unhappily. "I can't, I'm sorry."

The doctor sighed. "Thought so. You don't need to make a choice right now, but consider the deadline for changing your mind to be a week from now. The hearing aide is yours and uses a communicator battery so you don't need to worry about keeping it charged. Just make sure not to lose it.

"Think that covers everything. I'll let Joy see you out."

It took the majority of my self control to not start swearing loudly.

Wattson had made the judgment call of bringing help in from Slateport when I'd called him. This was something I would have normally agreed with.

Apparently, Aqua had been laying low in Slateport and jumped on the opportunity to steal the submarine Captain Stern had just finished building.

So at the moment, Mt. Chimney was well and truly erupting, Groudon was actively making things worse, and Aqua was was likely trying to wake Kyogre up as well.

I had no proof of that, but for the last ten hours the world had been humoring the worst case scenarios, so I wasn't about to start acting like the race was up.

It was the first time I could recall that I outright disagreed with Wattson.

"Lad, I get that you're frustrated, I do. But for pity's sake, look at what happened to you when you went charging off after Magma. You even had Flannery at your back."

"That doesn't mean I can't look for Aqua. I have Minnow and my nav, at the least we should be trying to stop them before they make things even worse."

"Wallace, you aren't the only person who can fix this."

"I _know_! But the gym leaders are all tied up watching _or evacuating_ their towns and anyone with any real power is busy trying to fix Chimney. _Again_. I might not be the only one, but the list isn't long enough for us to afford being picky."

We looked at each other for a very hard moment. Then his eyes fell and he suddenly looked very old.

"Never should have started you on all this." _Grief._

I was taken aback. Unsure of how to follow a response like that.

"These are jobs for the people who've already lived. You're not even old enough to drink and you're going to get yourself killed before you make it there if you keep this up." He wasn't looking at me.

There was a long moment where I thought in silence.

Funny how things tended to go when gym leaders bowed their head.

"What would you have me do differently?"

Neither of us had words to say to that. Eventually, Wattson let out a tired breath.

"Go, then. I'll let Stern know you're coming. Just-... go."

I went.

"... been hiding during the interview and boarded when we'd all left the dock. Next thing we knew Archie was yelling something over the megaphones and the sub was gone. We have no idea where they are now. They won't even have to come up for air, and with the supplies we'd packed they could go weeks without surfacing."

"You really have no way of tracking it? No GPS system you can piggyback, no distinctive signatures, nothing?"

He just shook his head. "And what with Chimney completely blowing its lid we can't afford to divert anyone right now."

I wracked my brain.

 _So they stole the sub a few hours ago, but they can't have planned the whole thing. If they were going to use it for more than a point A to B vehicle then they're going to need to stop somewhere to outfit it to do what they need it to do. They could also be using it for searching, but even then I doubt they managed to sneak more than a skeleton crew aboard._

 _So where could Aqua hide a base large enough to refit a submarine, acquire more personnel, and do both without alerting the local law enforcement?_

Somewhere on the water. Friggin' Hoenn.

I conveyed my musings to Stern.

"I hadn't thought of that. Even so, that still leaves too many potential places to keep an eye on before they have to resurface."

"At least it gives us something to start narrowing down." Which wasn't a lot, but it was something. "Anyway, I should probably give you my nav number in case either of us finds anything."

"Yeah that's probably a-" he dug a hand through his pocket and widened his eyes before frantically patting the rest of his pockets. "Goddammit, of course."

"What?"

"We were going to televise the launch of the sub, so I had all my gear already on board, including my nav. Dammit, I can give you my office number but that's-"

"Wait, so your pokénav is onboard that submarine?"

"Yeah, so a fat lot of good it's going to do us...?"

He trailed off when he saw my elated expression.

"Your pokénav is on the sub." I could only barely hold in a dance of joy.

"Yes...? How does that-" I saw the moment it clicked. "We can track my nav."

Neither of us paid much heed to decorum as we sprinted to his office on the docks. He booted up his PC and started up browsers and programs I didn't recognize. I readily admit that I got a little lost in the technobabble he helpfully provided as he did... something. Bringing windows up and closing them again between bursts of typing as fast as I could think. I was just glad he knew what he was doing.

What I _could_ understand was when he leaned away and a window with the loading signal with the words 'Acquiring Signal' appeared in the middle of the screen.

Ten seconds. Then thirty. Then a minute.

'Signal not found.'

That was the closest I ever came to rupturing a blood vessel from a spike in blood pressure.

"... Okay." I said with a calmness I did not feel. "So what does that mean?"

Captain Stern took a long moment to inhale.

"One of two things. One, they found my nav and disabled it."

My first completely involuntary eye spasm, hooray.

"Two, they're too deep for a connection to be established."

 _No, bad hope, you've been jerking me around enough today, go lie down._

"So what happens when they surface?"

"What happens is I leave my PC running and I tell you when we find something. Unfortunately, that could take anything from hours to weeks."

I leaned back. "So now we wait?"

"Now we wait."

It felt strangely inappropriate when I was standing on Lilycove's east beaches. There was a volcano going off and I was wearing swim trunks.

My rationale was fine of course, I could only teleport places where I'd been before so I was going to try and hit as many potential hideouts as I could before Stern got back to me. I still couldn't really contribute to slowing Chimney's eruption either. So here I was.

It still felt weird, but I had a job to do. I let Minnow and Sylph out and Imp took her usual place hovering near Minnow's head and we set off.

The water glimmered under us as Minnow weaved forward, Lilycove behind us growing smaller and smaller.

Then it was just my team, the water, and me. Despite the water visibly passing beneath us it was hard to feel like we were going anywhere at all. I had my nav up with the compass function pointing us toward the little islands dotting the water between Lilycove and Mossdeep.

My plan was to get to Mossdeep today and meet up with The Twins, maybe take the challenge depending on their stance. After that, if I still hadn't heard back from Stern I would start making loops to cover the remaining islands around Mossdeep.

That was all great in context, but that wasn't going to help me cover the travel times between the landmarks. There were the brief moments when something got close enough to scan but navigating around tentacool blooms was only so mentally engaging. So I decided to practice something I'd been wanting to try for a few weeks now.

I pulled a pokéblock out of my bag, careful to avoid leaning on Minnow as I did so. Once I had it out, I balanced it in my right hand and focused.

Nothing, which was unsurprising. Imp poked the Bond to see what I was doing.

 _Telekinesis._ Not the word as much as the idea. _Trying at least._

She fell back from Minnow's head to where I was seated, curiosity chiming. Not really sure what I was doing, I tried again.

The candy stared back up at me. Immobile.

' _Like this._ ' A faint pinkish glow appeared around it and it promptly levitated into Imp's waiting hand. Then she ate it and looked expectantly at me.

 _I imagine it'll be a bit harder with you_ digesting _it._ I thought dryly to her.

' _Guess you'll just need to get another one.'_

 _Of course. Silly me._

I pulled another cube out and focused, trying to isolate the feeling of when Imp had picked it up. There was Minnow, Imp, Sylph, the wind, the spray, the sun...

... the sense of minds, emotions, a dissociation from self, the focus?

I tried to strain a muscle I wasn't entirely sure I had.

Nothing, except a vague sense of smugness from the block. I glared at the offending food.

This was going to take a while.

At least I managed to occupy myself all the way to Mossdeep. There were a few scattered bits of land that warranted touching down on but nothing that really broke the monotony of my lack of telekinesis. It wasn't even as though I'd made a tiny amount of progress, I might as well have been sleeping the whole way for all I got done.

Still no word from Stern, so there was that hanging over my head too.

When Mossdeep came into view it was a... conflicting image. The stone cliffs on the west side of the island I was approaching from clashed with the gleaming glass and steel towers on the other side of the island which I could only assume was the Space Center. We made our way to the south beaches and I hopped off Minnows back, sinking my bare feet into the sand. I let Marble and Cindy out once I got away from the water.

Now that I could see the village proper the dichotomy became even more obvious. If I were to pick one word to describe the buildings on the west side of the island it would be 'rustic'. Constructed mostly out of stone and timber, the whole place had a very sturdy feel to it. I had no doubt that this town had seen its share of oceanic storms. If my nav was to believed then the weather was usually quite mild but occasionally prone to monsoons that left everyone indoors for a few days.

With everything else that had been going on I was surprised it wasn't raining lightning and hellfire when I got here.

I still had a few hours of daylight to make myself useful, so I made my way into Mossdeep in search of the gym.

It was surprisingly difficult. Most of the buildings were about the same size and construction and when I finally consulted my nav to find the correct structure it was only after I had passed it several times.

The building was a bit bigger than those around it, but the only confirming signage I could find was a plaque with a stylized heart by the door, the symbol of the Mossdeep Gym Badge apparently. The other thing that confirmed the location was the _feel._

Normally I could feel other psychic types like a breeze or sound in otherwise still air in addition to the emotions living things felt on a moment to moment basis.

This building was very windy.

"Sorry guys, don't think you'll be able to fit inside." I turned to Minnow and Sylph with an apologetic look. Minnow gave a draw-out rumble which I had come to recognize as his long suffering sigh before lowering his head, Sylph gave a loud chirp and fluttered to a stop before landing next to me. I tossed them each a pokéblock before recalling them and entering the building with the rest of my team in tow.

My first impression was that I had just mistakenly walked into someone's house. The furniture, entrance hall, and warm color scheme gave off a very homey atmosphere. I stuck my head back outside and double checked my nav, but sure enough I was in the right place.

"Come in." A child's voice sounded from out of sight down the hall, high and cheerful, probably a girl. Something felt a little strange about it but I couldn't put my finger on it, and I didn't think it was the slightly tinny quality of my hearing aid.

I walked down the hall and turned left to where I'd heard the voice

into a hallway.

I stopped and did a double take before looking behind myself. The door I'd walked in stared back at me, like I'd never moved at all.

So this was going to be one of _those_ puzzles.

"Please, come in. Don't be shy!" The same voice as before, obviously suppressing a giggle.

 _Cheeky little rugrat._ The thought had already come and gone before I remembered I was in the _psychic_ gym of Hoenn. I made sure to feel appropriately chagrined before walking towards the voice again.

Same result as last time, but now that I was focusing on it I could feel just the smallest sense of vertigo when I rounded the corner.

 _It's extremely difficult to teleport something you're not touching, but even if you can you still need to be close._

"Just down the hall and to the left! You can't miss it!" The voice had turned tauntingly cheerful.

 _Normally I would be reserved about calling a child a smartass but you've earned it kiddo._

Down the hall a third time, but before I rounded the corner I deliberately reached an arm around it

and touched the wall next to the door.

A bout of childish laughter. "Not like that silly!"

"Come on sis', we know why he's here. We should probably just let him in." Another child chimed in, voice lower and more serious. A boy this time.

"Aww, you never let me have any fun Tate! Just one more try? He's like us! He should be able to get through!" The girl pleaded.

I could hear the 'hmph' from the door. Something told me this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

"Yay! Thanks Tate! You hear that Mr. Wallace, you better make it through this time!"

I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but this was starting to feel like a challenge. The not insignificant number of hints I had also put my pride as a novice psychic on the line.

 _I doubt they could significantly trap any area outside, so the building isn't likely to be much larger than what I saw. Thinking about it most of the building was to the right of the door, there can't be more than a room or two on the left side._

Then why weren't

there any doors on the right side?

 _Now hang on a second. Imp, mind lending a hand?_ I collected myself and focused as hard as I could on the signatures in the house. It was harder than normal, much harder. The metaphorical wind made it almost impossible to tell the direction the sense of giggles and curiosity was coming from, but if I could just...

"So I turn left down the hall again?"

A spike of surprise-disappointment-irritation, momentarily pointing in a clear direction. No words though.

I put a hand on the right wall and closed my eyes before slowly working my way down the hall, holding the location of the spike in my head like a compass. Feeling a corner, I walked around it

as something passed over me like a curtain.

"See brother? I told you he could do it!" The voice was barely two feet in front of me and had lost the odd quality from earlier. I opened my eyes and saw two children in front of me. Several things about them surprised me.

For starters, they were utterly identical. Had I not just heard them speaking I would have suspected they were both... it was actually pretty hard to pin a gender on either of them now that I thought about it. The one that was bouncing around was probably the girl and the one watching me carefully was probably the boy, but the effect was uncanny. Once I got past the initial surprise at their similarity, I also noticed that they looked like the girl I'd met on Mt. Pyre. Pheobe I think. Younger siblings of hers maybe.

"I'm sorry about Lisa. She gets really excited whenever someone new comes by to visit." The boy apologized.

"Don't talk about me like I'm some puppy! You were curious too. And I was right, wasn't I?"

"Yes Lisa, but we really should get to the point. If Team Aqua wakes up Kyogre then we'll need to evacuate the islands too, and with the mainland already occupying all of the available transport ships-"

"Yeah I know, no need to get all sad about it. Over here Mr. Wallace." The - girl - gestured for me to follow and led me further into the building. I blinked.

 _Did they just switch places?_

Whatever the case was, I found myself again distracted by the structure of the building. The decor and atmosphere was only further solidifying my initial thought that this was more of a home than a gym.

"We were going to have a big fancy gym like the League wants us to but the construction got bought out by the big space agency thing, so we've been running the gym out of our home." The girl answered my unasked question.

It was a little creepy to keep realizing that Imp wasn't the only one peeking on my thoughts.

"Sorry. We try not to look too hard at our guests, but it's like keeping your hands over your ears. It gets uncomfortable." The boy provided.

 _I wonder if this is how people feel when they talk to me._

Once we got to the kitchen table I saw a somewhat bedraggled woman pouring over a haphazard pile of maps. She looked up when we entered, my team trailing behind me.

"Oh, hello. You're Wallace I take it? I'm Anne. I hope the twins didn't give you too much trouble." She got up and offered a hand that I accepted.

"It's nice to meet you. Ordinarily I would start explaining why I'm here but between Wattson and Mt. Chimney, I'm guessing you already know."

She gave a tired sigh. "Unfortunately. We also got word from Captain Stern and we've been going over the old maps trying to figure out where their hideout or Kyogre could be. You're welcome to take a look." We walked back and gestured to the mostly obscured surface.

There must have been maps from every codex. Some were obviously quite new and one in particular looked hand drawn and ragged enough to be older than Hoenn's colonies, which it may well have been.

"The standard nav network doesn't cover geographical details more complicated than trails so we've been doing what we can to puzzle together any holes it might have. If you have any extra information you think might help, we're all ears."

 _Trying to stop the end of the damn world and we're stuck with a handful of maps on an overworked mother's kitchen table._

It made sense, as much as I didn't want to admit it. Pretty much all of the teleporters the League would have on call would be occupied, myself included. So if people were going to work on this it was going to be in individual groups like this one. Anything bigger would require too much time to get together with a volcano going off.

Was I even sure _I_ was in the right place? My collarbone twinged and I brought a hand up to rub it.

I had to be. I couldn't afford to be wrong like this again.

"Well, I don't have anything to bring to the table just yet, but Captain Stern is working on tracking Aqua right now and he should be getting back to us within a few days. What do we already know?"

As important as the work was, it was boring. Going over a map to find a favorable path or point out a particular city or landmark was dry work to begin with but was usually made easier by how quickly it was over with. Going over every detail with a fine tooth comb and comparing maps to see what added up and what didn't?

I was glad to be done. Not that we were actually finished, but we'd all hit our limit for today. Even the twins had been giving their input despite how obviously boring they found it.

I leaned back from the chair I'd commandeered, feeling my spine crackle and snap back into shape as I did so.

"Ugh, maps are _so_ boring." The girl complained, hopping down from her stool. The boy grunted his agreement.

We _had_ actually found a few things worthy of note, particularly a fairly large island cave a dozen or so miles north of Mossdeep that wasn't anywhere on the nav network. Were I an evil mastermind it would certainly make the list of my top choices.

"Anyway! Can we battle Wallace now Mom?"

 _Say what?_

Anyone who'd done a lick of research on the Hoenn League knew the psychic gym was co-headed by 'The Twins', and even I wasn't dense enough to miss the extremely psychic twins I'd just spent the last two hours around in Mossdeep's psychic gym. I'd been suspending disbelief in favor of focusing on the maps, but now that I was actually being forced to look at it...

 _Children? I've heard of prodigies but they can't be more than ten._

"You two are the gym leaders, why don't you ask him?"

Guess that was as clear of an answer as I was going to get. They looked up at me, identical expressions of anticipation on their faces.

So I turned to my team. "What do you guys think?"

Imp was curious enough to accept, Marble gave me a long look before tinging her approval, and Cindy was licking the floor.

"Sylph, Minnow?"

They wobbled a little bit out of sync, jangling against each other on my belt. I looked back up at The Twins.

"Lead the way."

So they did. I noticed the sun lingering by the horizon as I was led outside and to a small arena I'd missed in my earlier searching. With the handful of onlookers it made for a dramatic scene.

I took my place in the trainer's circle one end as the twins did the other. They held hands, then looked at me.

"We don't have traps or puzzles." The girl said.

"We don't have forms or trainers." The boy continued.

"We will accept anyone who wants to take our challenge, no matter their background." The - girl - said? _I was watching, did they just switch places again?_

"On one condition." The boy followed from the girl's position. _No. They switched_ bodies.

"You fight us both, or not at all." Their voices were in perfect unison.

Tate and Lisa wanted to battle.

This was the hardest fight I'd ever taken part in.

With every other trainer, myself included, there was a degree of separation from their team. A command was tactically reasoned, the command was given, the command was followed. One of the things I had learned was that if you wanted to win a fight you needed to do so on the front foot. Act fast enough to force your opponent to _react_. Maxie had started on the front foot under Chimney which was part of the reason he could hold me off three to five for so long.

So when I suddenly found myself always one step behind, no matter how quickly I adapted, I was a little off balance. It cost all of Marble's durability for me to figure out why. I recalled my fallen teammate while I connected the dots.

As children were prone to do when they thought they had the upper hand, they'd given me a hint before the battle had started. Right now, they were watching the battle with curiosity as their Claydol and Xatu executed a perfect sword and shield tag team against Minnow and Imp.

Not a single command was being given.

They'd swapped with their pokémon. It wasn't a duo of perfectly trained psychics I was fighting, it was The Twins.

So what choice did I have but to rise to the challenge?

 _Hey Imp, want to try something?_

I was under no illusions that my Bond with Imp was on par with what The Twins could pull off, but it would only need to be enough. I sent commands as directly as I could while having her use my body to yell commands to Minnow.

And while we're on the subject, let me tell you something. Hearing what I imagined to be Imp's voice from my mouth through her ears was wholly discombobulating. There really isn't another word for it.

Minnow served as the tide that everyone else adapted to - Imp, or myself depending on how you looked at it, working with him to make sure The Twins fought against him. I'd never appreciated the metaphor of a battle being like a dance before, but I was starting to see the resemblance.

Three long minutes later, the claydol got caught under a torrent of water which distracted the Xatu long enough for Imp to land a thunderbolt. I wasn't sure when I'd stopped giving commands myself.

The Twins blinked in shock. With slightly confused looks they recalled their teammates. Then they glanced at each other and grinned.

Showtime. I felt my body swallow involuntarily.

Tate released a Solrock and Lisa a Lunatone. Few things in the world were as perfect.

Fortunately, Minnow was still on the field and had a good deal more fight left in him. Even gym leaders couldn't get away from type disadvantages.

 _Hydro Pump._

I recalled my exhausted dragon as Imp and I took our respective places again. This fight had been enlightening in a number of ways. It was also the first I was proud of winning.

 _Beat my own dad, and I feel like garbage. Beat two children and I feel on top of the world. What the hell, me._

Once the arena was clear again I noticed the crowd that had gathered. I had no doubt the sun had picked a suitably dramatic time to drop behind the horizon. Tate and Lisa looked at each other.

"You tell him."

"What? No! You tell him."

"You're the one who forgot first."

"How does that- you forgot too!"

They stared for a second before both turning back to me.

"So this is awkward."

"But, we kinda forgot to bring the winnings case."

I pinched my lips together to hold in what would have been an inappropriate laugh.

"Tell you what, we get our teams healed first and I'll call it even."

And so we did. The twins were quiet during the short walk to the pokécenter. I couldn't even feel them conversing with each other.

"We really are sorry for forgetting."

"But you're the first challenger who's actually managed to beat us."

"Like, big sis has beaten us."

"So has Mr. Juan."

"But everyone who's been here for the challenge..."

"Well, they weren't really that hard."

"The only one? How long have you two been leading the Mossdeep gym?" I asked.

"Dad left to travel a few months ago."

"The League tested us and decided we were good enough for the job." The both gave hums of pride at that. As well they should, they were still more than a year out from their majority and were routinely pulling off psychic feats I hadn't even known were possible before today.

Speaking of which, if I was going to pick their brains now would be my best chance. We got to the center and put our teams on the tray while I put my questions together.

"So, how were you guys doing the teleport thing in the entryway?"

Lisa giggled. "We weren't. Totem was giving you false visions while Matryoshka interfered with your senses. Until you started focusing with Imp you hadn't actually moved at all."

 _Huh._ Doubt I'd be able to replicate that, but still good to know.

"Guess that makes sense."

"But what you really want to know is how to levitate things."

I twitched just a little bit, it was still weird to have someone converse directly with my thoughts. Though I couldn't really point fingers anymore, what with doing my best to mirror The Twins during our battle.

Lisa giggled again as the tray finished. We took our respective teams back and I let the indoor appropriate members of mine back out. "Well, if you agree to stay at the gym then we'll help you with your training."

"You've got a deal."

If my initial agreement to The Twins hadn't been enough, then Anne's additional input was all the extra prodding I needed to stay in their guest room. I could've spent more time searching or maybe trying to get other people together to help, but between securing The Twins as allies and friends I would say it was a well spent afternoon.

It had been a pretty long day after all. I'd woken up in Lilycove, made my way to Mt. Pyre, gotten attacked by a ghost type which might have killed me, met a girl who nonchalantly saved my life maybe, said a proper goodbye to my first teammate, attended a service for the passed, unsuccessfully intervened in a theft by Magma, was chosen by the Crone of Pyre to try to stop Magma from waking Groudon, raised figurative hell in Lavaridge, discovered a hideout right under Flannery's nose, beat the metaphorical and mental crap out of Maxie, watched a god of earth and fire wake up, raised literal hell in Lavaridge, failed to save Lavaridge, discovered I was functionally deaf, found a way to track Aqua, made the trip to Mossdeep, and beat the second highest ranked gym leaders on the continent.

Yeah, it had been a long day.

That didn't stop me from getting up early the next morning anyway. I swung by Stephen's house but couldn't feel anyone inside. Probably off helping with one of the many evacuations...

Time to get back to work. I double checked my nav to make sure I had all the waypoints still up before making my way back to the beeches. And just like yesterday, I found myself becoming rapidly bored with the static scenery. The difference this time being that I had The Twin's instructions to work with.

" _You never actually develop the powers yourself. Even when Imp's in her ball or unconscious, the link stays, so your empathy sticks around too. I doubt she'd be able to play the flutes either if you two were too far apart. Really, you just piggyback on her abilities, like she's literally lending a hand."_

Despite the morbidity of the description, it had been enlightening all the same. I could ask Imp to levitate something, but actually cutting out the middle step like I had during the fight?

It was almost disappointingly easy, maybe because I'd already done it in the heat of battle so my instincts were lined up properly. But I couldn't help but feel a little cheated as I felt the candy whizzing around my head in a patterned orbit. Imp was only half paying attention as I borrowed whatever portion of her brain enabled the ability.

Still it was pretty cool...

Whatever, maybe I'd find a way to entertain myself with the fine control later. For now I needed to make sure I focused on the islands we were passing. Shoal Cave was going to come up soon.

I understood that the chances of actually finding Aqua's hideout were beyond slim. If it was anywhere as well constructed as Magma's had been, then it would need to have been well off the beaten path for how long it would need to go undetected. That only made it marginally less frustrating to have another whole day pass by with very little measured progress.

On the upside, I found the challenge I'd been looking for with Imp's telekinesis when I started using it on the water. It was easily as hard as holding it in your hands if not even harder. I was also getting good enough at riding Minnow to do it almost subconsciously. In a manner it was like communicating with Imp, there just wasn't much effort involved anymore.

Didn't stop me from being sour when I finally got back to Mossdeep. I recorded the next set of waypoints Anne and The Twins had put together, more out east than north this time, but without any obvious candidates like Shoal Cave had been.

The next day passed without any result. As did the day after that.

It was weird, I was both getting more and more tense as time passed and more relaxed as I spent time on the water. Or in the air, or just traveling with my team in general. Despite how little time the whole Magma fiasco had taken it felt like Mt. Pyre had been weeks ago. Just Imp, Minnow, Sylph, and me out on the water...

I could see why people would never be able to give up traveling. To have the whole ocean and sky just open up to you. I'm not going to try to describe it for fear of doing the reality a disservice. On the more practical side of things I got good enough at flying with Sylph that I was fairly certain I could put up a fight against someone like Maxie on even ground. So to speak.

But all this training wasn't going to mean much if Stern's nav was found before Aqua finally resurfaced.

 _If they haven't found and destroyed it already._

As was rapidly becoming usual, the less pleasant thoughts started to resurface as I set foot on solid land once again. Stephen still wasn't at his house, not that that was surprising. The news was saying that Fallarbor was being evacuated now too and both Mauville and Verdanturf were seeing a lot of outgoing traffic.

Lavaridge had been tactfully avoided.

I got back to the gym, none of us wasted time getting the next set of coordinates recorded. I knew it wasn't true, but after the breakneck pace I'd forced myself down from I was starting to think maybe that corrective ear surgery wasn't such a bad idea after all if this was what I was spending my time doing instead.

 _Aqua's working on a time limit too. If they're really as antithetical to Magma as they pretend to be then they can't afford to wait any more than the rest of us._

As lovely as that thought was, it didn't change the fact that by all appearances they'd gone to ground to wait out the chaos.

I went to bed that night frowning, even the reassuring weight of Marble draped over my legs did little to make it easier.

What it _did_ do was make it easier to sit up when I heard my nav start ringing, early morning some time.

I blinked blearily while Sylph continued to stare at me as he usually did while I slept. I briefly focused through his eyes to spot where I'd placed the incessant device and grabbed it.

"H'lo?"

"Wallace? I found them!" Stern's voice hit me like a slap.

"What? Aqua? Where?" I didn't waste time articulating.

"North of Lilycove Harbor, a few miles up the coast, look for a cave."

"I'll get there as fast as I can, let the Lilycove PD know." I turned to my team as I threw a shirt back on. "Showtime, guys."

"Right. I'll call you again if anything changes." He hung up before I could answer.

I used the time to recall everyone but Imp. Then with a thought we were back on the beaches we'd launched from a few days ago. I wasn't sure who had directed the teleport more and I didn't really care. Now I actually had a chance to stop them before they kicked Hoenn from the frying pan into the fire.

Minnow barely slowed as I let him and Sylph out, both feeling my unspoken urgency. We shot off at a much faster pace than the easy glide we'd used for our daylong searches. I felt my nav buzz and glanced down at it. Stern had sent me a set of coordinates which I hastily brought up on the map. My mad rush was justified when I saw we were only a few minutes out from the waypoint at our current pace.

Even if it was a few excruciatingly long minutes.

Finally the cave came into sight and I felt a grin on my face. Minnow rumbled into the water as his feelings mirrored mine.

This was why pacifism took second place.

(Administrator Matt)

It had been a bit of a gamble rushing Archie's plans in Slateport and taking the submarine when people had been called off to deal with Chimney, but it had worked perfectly. Even better, We'd managed to get all the way back to the Lilycove Hideout without the League sniffing us out. Course things weren't going perfectly with the damn Magma gangers setting off Chimney, but we weren't going to be far behind if things kept going this well.

The thought had barely finished before a roar reverberated through the cave. Too distorted and far off to be certain of what it was. I yanked the radio from my belt and yelled into it.

"Status?"

"He's here! White Hat! His gyarados is-" A sudden crackle and what might have been a splash silenced the device. I bit back a snarl and ran to the security console off of the main chamber. "You, go get Archie and tell him what's going on!" I yelled to the grunt at the PC, he lept up and ran back out towards the submarine.

I sat down and glanced over the arrayed security monitors. It wasn't hard to spot the intruder, he was still riding his gyarados through the halls and completely ignoring the guards. Not that there was much any of them could do in the face of an opponent like that.

 _Not much_ I _could do either._ Good thing we had fallbacks for things just like this. A few quick clicks later and alarms were sounding.

"Lockdown initiated, stand clear of the doors." An automated voice sounded. And just like it had promised, the enormous steel barriers started sliding into place through various points in the base.

White Hat heard it too and spurred his dragon forward towards the nearest one. It was going to be close. The door was moving slowly but surely as the scaled beast closed distance.

Three seconds, two, one.

White Hat jerked back on his seat and the gyarados stopped with a rumbling growl. I grinned. There were still three more doors between him and the sub, there was no chance of him getting through in time...

 _Wait, what's he doing?_ White Hat was climbing off and recalled everyone in his team except the gardevoir that never left his side. It floated down to him and they held hands for just a second before they both vanished. _The hell? Where-_

There was a surge of hard light that coalesced into the sea dragon on another camera. The one on just the other side of the door as it so happened. I barely had time to register what had happened before they were off again.

 _If he can just teleport-_ I pressed a fist into the button for the intercom. "Everyone back to the inner dock! Get ready for a fight!"

I felt my belt to make sure my team was where they were supposed to be. So much money on the damn doors and he could just walk _right through them_. It was hard to watch as he slithered up to the next steel barrier. He glanced up at the floating psychic who glanced back.

Then he made a frustrated gesture before patting the gyarados on the side and saying something even the cameras' microphones could pick up.

"Minnow, Hyper Beam!"

No way. His gyarados was still young and not even the Dragons of Storms got that strong that _fast._

My thoughts fell flat as the camera started to flicker and skip, still sending images of gathering light. Even with the last door still between me and them I could hear the sound of screaming metal like it was right next to me. Once the camera finished recalibrating, it gave me a nice clear picture of the ragged metal hole. It also showed the dragon swaying unsteadily before getting recalled. Looked like White Hat's team had its limits - however _absurdly_ high they might be - and there was still one last door that might hold him off.

I glanced through the other cameras, most of the grunts who were able had gathered near the last door with their teams out. Hopefully they wouldn't even need them. The remaining few were working frantically to get the supplies they needed on the sub and there were only a few crates left.

Back to White Hat, he'd gotten all the way to the last door. He was pacing and making angry gestures so hopefully he was out of tricks. Still, I wasn't about to hold my breath.

True to my unbidden thoughts, he suddenly stopped and started yelling commands.

"Marble, Rock Smash!" The lairon bounded forward and smashed into the cave wall just to the left of the door, sending a spiderweb of cracks that made the camera flicker unhappily. "Marble, back! Cindy, Earthqu-"

I didn't wait around, I sprinted out of the office towards the gathered Aqua members. "Everyone get away from the door-"

A tremor visibly rippled away from the wall before the stone next to it all but exploded outward. My warning had gotten a few people to back up but the two nearest the wall were hit by the shattered sediment and sent sprawling. The dust hadn't even started to settle before the kid himself jumped over the rocks with surprising balance and was sprinting toward the sub with his team in tow.

 _No no no, we're so close!_ I ran to intercept him, releasing Lupus and Tengu on the way. He didn't even glance back as his gardevoir broke off to intercept us. A pink glow hardened around my legs and I hit the ground. Then a bolt of electricity - from a _psychic?_ \- dropped Tengu a moment later.

But Lupus got through, barreling through his other team members with a snarl before pouncing on White Hat. The yell of surprise and pain made the psychic whip its gaze around, my barrier suddenly lessened enough for me to scramble to my feet. The guards who could still fight were mobbing him as best they could and keeping his lairon and crobat occupied, his camerupt was ramming into Lupus and succeeded in dislodging him with a yelp.

Just in time for me to body slam him myself. He'd barely started to get up before I sent him back to the floor, _the last crate was being loaded_ we just needed to-

White Hat grabbed my arms, one visibly bloody from Lupus, and started wrestling me off. I pushed back and tried to pin-

"Get OFF!" He yelled and something cold gripped my spine. My eyes went wide and I was scrambling away from him before I even realized it. I'd looked into his eyes and just...

 _Like staring down a dragon._ I thought, dumbstruck as the submarine started to rumble. _That's not a rage people should be capable of._

White Hat jumped to his feet and started sprinting towards it, letting his gyarados out yet again. Neither one slowed as he leapt onto its back and they both surged into the water after the fleeing vehicle.

Who was this kid?

(Wallace)

My head broke the surface and I pulled in sweet lungfuls of air. I hadn't had time to put my goggles on when I'd heard the submarine start to rumble away so I'd been relying almost exclusively on the feedback I'd felt through Minnow and the blurry outlines my vision had been reduced to.

I'd tried to have him ram the submersible up to the surface where I could have relative assurance that I wouldn't drown anyone if he started tearing holes in the hull. But the enormous machine had forged deeper. I kept chasing it down until the water felt hard and cold and I started seeing spots, then I'd chased a little further.

 _It was right there._

When I broke off it was because I knew I would drown if I went any further. And as Wattson had done the liberty of explaining to me, I wouldn't do anyone any good if I was dead.

Reluctantly I steered Minnow back to the hideout. I still had some mooks to bag and I was _not_ going to walk away from this empty handed.

In what was possibly the most major oversight of any criminal hideout ever, there were only two exits and one of them needed you to dive sixty feet underwater to get out. So all I had to do in the end was teleport back to the sea level entrance and look menacing until the Lilycove Police finally showed up.

I mean I could understand that they were stuck with speedboats while I could teleport and ride a dragon but it still felt like I was the only one doing anything sometimes.

It took a while for the cops to get everyone processed. I wound up needing to knock down four more walls before we were sure we got everyone. A few of the more spirited grunts tried to fight until they saw the small army of policemen that had been called in.

After the base had been swept I was asked to give my statement and got some bandages for my arm where the mightyena had bitten me. I got to the part when the sub left before I noticed the officer had gone very quiet. When I focused back on him I also saw he'd been sweating and had scooted back.

"Is something wrong officer?" I held my simmering anger down. It had been a frustrating couple of days but there was no reason to take it out on him.

"Uh, no. Please continue." His voice was a bit higher than earlier.

 _Dammit Wallace, calm down. You've been training your empathy for months now, they can probably feel how angry you are. And it's not like you couldn't tear any of them to pieces in a fight. Chill._

I took a slow breath.

"Sorry sir. As I was saying, I did my best to pursue the submarine..."

I really couldn't shake the feeling of a walk of shame as I ported back to Mossdeep. I'd already called Wattson to fill him in but it was The Twins and Anne who'd been helping me plan my search; even if nothing had come of it.

Guess I shouldn't have been surprised when they already knew. Psychics and all.

"Would you quit being so hard on yourself dear? You stormed a criminal stronghold singlehandedly and still almost got what you came for anyway. I imagine it'll be on the morning news." Anne offered.

 _Great, broadcast my entire damn failure to all of Hoenn, why don't they._

Lisa bonked me with a small fist. "Dummy. You beat Tate and me and when you came back you were really sad and angry. You did your best, no other reason for you to feel like that."

I pushed away my initial reaction to discredit the logic of an optimistic child. I didn't quite agree with their reasoning, but I'd only been a psychic for about a few weeks and they had read minds for their entire lives.

Once I'd finished being angry at Aqua for the moment, I joined Anne, Tate, and Lisa to talk strategy. It was disheartening to look back over the maps and realize that pretty much all of the blue was fair game now.

After no small amount of deliberation we put together a route that would bring me past Ever Grande, Sootopolis, and Pacifidlog. I was no longer able to really spearhead any search since all of the most likely places for Kyogre were too deep to dive, so I was going to cover the rest of the major cities in case anyone else sent up the alarm.

On a brighter note, Sootopolis was supposedly the best place in Hoenn to get scuba gear and certification. That seemed like something that could be helpful.

By the time we finished the news had come on and the other three had decided to watch. As mad as I still was I was also curious enough to hover behind them. The program finally transitioned to a female news anchor.

"Now our latest story. Early this morning, the Lilycove Police Department recieve a call from the Esteemed Captain Stern whose submarine was stolen less than a week ago by the recent Team Aqua. The captain was able to locate the stolen machine via a backup security tracker that he had managed to activate remotely after Aqua disabled the primary GPS. However when the police arrived at the location, they were in for two big surprises. Not only had the so-called 'Team Aqua' managed to bring the vehicle to a hidden cave on the coast near Lilycove, the location had been constructed with state of the art fortifications. The second shock was that despite the impressive forces that had been arrayed inside, the entire compound had already been secured by a single trainer."

I felt something cold in my gut. _Did I tell them not to mention my name?_

"Captain Stern had already alerted a friend of his, an undercover member of the League, who singlehandedly stormed the entire base in an attempt to recover the submarine and put a stop to Aqua's nefarious plans."

 _Oh please no._

"This trainer, Wallace, codename White Hat, has shown bravery and strength that we all aspire to. You can see it for yourself ladies and gentlemen in these clips recovered from the facilities security systems."

I felt the world start pressing in around me as the condemning footage showed me rushing through the base. _Well, civilian life, it was nice knowing you._

Mrs. Fructus turned her hearing aid up. "Did they say 'Wallace'? Can't have been..."

Theodora stared at the TV by the door with a blank expression, Fez chirping atop her head.

Wally felt his jaw drop.

Mr. Sullivan picked up his nav and dialed his boss.

Mr. Stone picked up his nav and dialed his son.

Stephen ignored his ringing nav, unable to take his eyes away from the security footage.

Roxanne furrowed her brow. "That... can't be right."

"Well, Ahl be damned." Mr. Briney muttered at the screen in the corner of his home.

"Whippersnapper." Mrs. Aka muttered fondly, shaking her head.

Brawly called a timeout and the dojo went quiet except for the lone screen.

Rydel looked up from the bicycle chain he'd been fixing, unsure he'd heard correctly.

Wattson swore very loudly.

Christopher and Wanda glanced away from the hotel TV and exchanged a confused look. "Wasn't that...?"

The Winstrate Family all started talking at once.

Audrey found herself at a loss for words.

George put the glass ornament down and turned to the TV. "My god..."

"Flannery, you should see this!" One of the diggers gestured her to the noisebox.

Garet started furiously texting his friends.

Ty ducked the thrown microphone. "Gabbie! Calm down those are expensive!"

Winona fell off her chair laughing. "White Hat!" She wheezed out between giggles.

Pheobe facepalmed, hard.

Birch swallowed, mind suddenly wondering if the evacuation ships had room for one more.

May turned off the television and sat down. _What?_

Two parents exchanged a silent look.

"Guess that's why he hasn't called."


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Oh my goodness, this chapter did not want to be written. But now that it's done we're actually getting towards the endgame here. Only a few more chapters to go. May it be said that I never miss my uploads without good reason, a Christmas Day update no less. Also, yes Minnow is bigger than most gyarados, but for his body to make sense he'll need to weigh as much as a small killer whale, I'm not just making him big cause I feel like it. On the same note, Marble is going to be a very big lady when she evolves for the same reasons; she's going to be like a bear made of rock and steel. Lastly, still recovering from finals so my buffer is smaller than I'd like. I'll try to keep up my update rate so hopefully I can manage to avoid an update collapse before we finish up. Anyway, let's keep kicking Wallace while he's down, shall we?

Chapter 15: White Hat

It wasn't even true.

Sure, I'd been working with the League, but it wasn't as if I was some deep undercover spy. But between getting my name on the news and how close it was to being true...

"Oh, Wallace. I-" Anne didn't get to finish.

"I need to go." I hadn't even sent an explicit command, but Imp ported me away anyways.

I was a bit surprised when I looked up and spotted my house in front of me.

' _House', not 'home'. Guess I have been on the road for a while. When was the last time I even visited?_

More than a week, that was for sure. I wasn't sure which of us had chosen the location, but I didn't have a good enough excuse to leave before I talked to either of them - especially not when they were both inside. I stepped forward and knocked on the door, acutely aware of the bandages on my right arm and the hearing aid visibly sticking out of my ear..

Apparently she'd already been standing because the door opened a second later. Mom looked at me with an inscrutable expression, that same damn news story live on the television behind her.

"You forgot to visit last week." The hidden bitterness and disappointment her words carried stung more than the reminder.

"Sorry. Things have been... busy."

Neither of us said anything.

"Why don't you come in?" Dad's voice sounded from further in the house. "I think we all need to talk."

Mom stepped back and we walked into the living room, another reporter describing my actions play by play as they ran the clips. We all just stood there for a minute before dad shut the TV off.

Honestly the silence was almost as bad.

"So. What happened?" Dad asked.

Even just the Aqua hideout thing would have been bad enough, but then I thought back to the last time I'd actually spoken with them. When I'd hurt my ankle the first time Team Magma had tried to make Mt. Chimney erupt.

Not a peep since then.

I sat down at the table, the chair creaking under me, and started to talk.

My voice was dry once I finished, despite the frequent drinks I'd been taking as I recounted the events of the last month.

Some parts were easier to bring up, like battling The Twins or searching for Team Aqua. Other parts were much harder.

Like getting attacked by the ghost, Mt. Chimney, my hearing aid, storming the Aqua hideout, Mutt...

We were all quiet again when I finally finished.

"Wallace. Son. I have a bit to say, so please hear me out." Dad started.

I turned to him, nodding.

"First. You've grown strong, stronger even than I think you realize. I wasn't sure which one of us would win when we last fought, but if I were across from you on the field right now I would forfeit and save us both the effort."

I waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Second. I am very disappointed in you." There it was. "I understand you've been busy, between losing Mutt and the Teams I can see where it might have slipped your mind. But you were searching for Aqua for three days, you had chances to call. You didn't."

"I'm sorry." I really was, but there was nothing else to say. No excuses, no reasons, not even any other feelings. Just, "I'm sorry."

"And last." Dad got up and walked over to my side of the table, I couldn't parse what he was going to do. Too many emotions for either of us to make sense of.

He leaned down and hugged me. "I want you to promise me something. And I know your mother already made you promise something like this, but now it's my turn.

"If you have to chose between being the hero and staying safe, make sure you come back to us. Okay?"

I was finally able to pin a name on the emotion my parents were feeling.

Fear.

But could I make the promise? Could I _mean_ it?

"Please." Mom's voice was almost silent. I wasn't even sure she knew she'd spoken.

What was I supposed to do? Could I evensay no? I suspected that was why they'd asked.

"I promise."

"Oh, hello Wallace. I, uh, saw the news." Birch smiled nervously.

"Pretty hard to miss. Anyway, I'm planning on heading out again soon and figured I should transfer what I've collected since I dropped by last." I tried to force a subject change, I was probably going to get a lot of people mentioning the news and had no desire to increase that number.

"It's nothing to worry about. May's been sending me plenty of data to-" He froze and I could almost see him start to sweat.

I felt a small smile creep onto my face. "Don't worry about it professor. I've talked with May and we've made up. Now then." I pulled off my scanner and reached for my pokédex. "Data?"

It was weird. In the past when I'd come back to transfer data and notes it had felt like I was fulfilling some grand endeavor, that I was educating all of mankind one entry at a time. But at the moment I was having a hard time seeing it as more than telling a middle aged man who rarely left the lab what pokémon half a region away did to survive. It all just felt so small, anyone could learn these things with a bit of know how and some time on the road. Felt more like a chore than a privilege.

Most of it at least.

"Wallace, tell me I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing." His eyes were boring into the wireframe of the Absol I'd scanned, I allowed myself to smirk.

"I don't know professor, what _I'm_ seeing is the data I got on the absol I tracked down. I got notes too, if you're interested."

You'd think someone just told him Christmas came early, and would still occur on its normal schedule, and maybe a few times again between the two just for fun.

"Well, I was still a few miles east of the Safari and I noticed these tracks in the mud..."

Even if it had been a chore, it had been a reprieve too. Now that I was done though, I needed to get my head back on straight and face the music.

Aqua had gotten away with the sub and just as many supplies as they were likely to need. Groudon was still making a mess of the continent and people as far as Mauville were reserving seats on the transport ships. Any shred of anonymity I'd ever had was being ripped to pieces by Hoenn's rumor mill. No one was sure where Kyogre was and Aqua was not only best suited to find it, they were the _only_ ones suited to find it.

Part of me wanted to address the whole news thing, to drop what I was doing and salvage any scrap of privacy I could.

But I had bigger things to worry about. Irresponsible police would have to wait until Hoenn wasn't at risk of meeting the business ends of unchecked and juxtaposed forces of creation. Just the one was bad enough already. Standing around wasn't going to help any of that. I had almost half of the East Hoenn Sea still to cover before I had the map covered. Hell, I might even be allowed to enjoy it. Being on the water had become something I looked forward to, relaxing in a way I couldn't describe.

So with what was far from my first teleport that morning, we landed on the island closest to Ever Grande I had passed during my scouting. Then we were off again.

I decided to start off riding Sylph, letting Minnow dive and jump as he pleased without worrying about dunking me. Being high in the air also made it much easier to see into the water without the sun's reflections on the waves making everything indiscernible. It didn't matter how far away you were, watching Minnow cut through the water despite his bulk was always a sight to behold.

And flying, even from Sylph's back the sheer _freedom_ of it. It was hard to care even about the news when I could go anywhere I pleased.

Except for a few of the cities and major islands, which was why I was traveling to them right now. Needed to focus.

No harm in a little free flying along the way, though.

Just a little.

It took most of the rest of the day to get to Ever Grande. There was still enough light in the sky to warrant being out and about, but I would need to get a room fairly quickly if I wanted to sleep indoors tonight. Not that I had great chances to begin with. Most of the evacuation ships that didn't leave the region altogether found their way to Ever Grande. Pacifidlog and Mossdeep were both too small to host many refugees and Sootopolis was difficult to access, but Ever Grande had earned its name for a reason. Not to mention that most people found a sense of comfort living on the doorstep of The League, which was understandable since it remained the only major city that hadn't been touched by either Team's actions just yet.

Even so, I didn't want to just hope I wouldn't be recognized. With no small amount of reluctance I pulled my hat off and stowed it, guiding Sylph over a route inland that went over some waterfalls for Minnow to follow up. Hopefully bypassing the docks would draw less attention.

When I finally got close too close to the outskirts of the city, I had Sylph land on the shore of the river near Minnow.

"Alright, guys. I don't want to do this any more than any of you want it done, but I think you'll all need to go back in your balls until we get out of Ever Grande again. Even you, Imp."

None of them were happy, but all of them seemed to understand. Sylph and Minnow both needed to frequently stay in their balls given their size. Imp on the other hand, she'd rarely been in her ball for more than a few minutes at a time.

 _Actually, I don't think she's_ ever _been in her ball for more than a few minutes. The longest time I can think of was either when I'd been letting everyone greet May or when I was on Mt. Pyre. And this is going to be a few hours at least._

' _It's fine. Not like the others don't deal with it. Though I expect you to let us back out if you get into trouble.'_

Sylph and Minnow chirped and rumbled their agreement respectively.

"Oh, please! When have I ever gotten into trouble before?" I grinned around at the three who were out.

Imp dope slapped me. _'I mean it. I'm glad you've been getting over letting me teleport you, but we want to help. Please don't deny us that.'_

I sobered. "Don't worry guys. I know I'm not much on my own. I'll ask for help if I need it."

' _That's not what I meant, but it'll do. We should get going anyway. There are some people headed this way.'_ She pulled herself into her ball.

I quickly recalled Minnow and Sylph, feeling the people Imp had pointed out getting closer to the riverbend I was standing on. It took a physical force of will not to grab my hat where I'd stowed it in my bag. Probably would have felt less exposed if I wasn't wearing pants.

I made a casual pace up the little trail by the river just in time to see the people come into view. Two parents and a young daughter. We only briefly acknowledged each other as we passed, and while I could feel a rise of curiosity from the girl she didn't say anything. Once I was far enough away I caught myself holding my breath and forced myself to exhale.

This was going to be a long evening.

I'd never liked crowds. They'd been loud and smelly and claustrophobic even before I'd started adding to my list of senses. Between my empathy and general perception of the thoughts people kept under their emotions, it wasn't quite sensory overload, but it was close enough to be genuinely uncomfortable. Like chewing tinfoil. I was tempted to take my hearing aid out just to reduce the load, but decided against it for the obvious reasons.

Thankfully, the people of Ever Grande seemed generally better able to avoid jostling each other. At times they even seemed to almost step out of the way without looking. It almost made up for the headache I was rapidly developing.

I finally got to the pokécenter and immediately had to hold in a groan at the sight of the line. The centers were famous for efficiency; that there was a line at all did not speak well for my chances of getting a room. The short wait to the front confirmed my fears.

Strangely identical nurse number seventeen apologetically give me a list of other places to try but I wasn't about to hold my breath.

A frustrating hour and a half of trekking around the crowded city had only gained me a light dinner and the knowledge that all of the hotels and hostels were crammed to capacity.

 _Fine. It's not like I haven't slept outside before._ I thought sourly as I turned to leave the city altogether. The west cliffs had been pretty sparsely developed due to the many environmental protection acts layered around Hoenn so I figured that would be my best bet to find a place to camp in peace.

I was almost surprised when I was right. Once I got out of the urbanized area I let Sylph out to do some scouting from the air. It was well and truly night by now, but I had good eyesight and Sylph's was even better. Besides, almost everyone up and out this late was carrying light of some kind, so finding the empty spots was fairly easy. Just follow the gaps.

Eventually settling on a clearing that looked far enough away from any footpaths, I had Sylph take us down to land and let my team out.

"Well, so much for that. Sorry about keeping you guys balled for nothing."

Cindy snorted, shooting stray sparks and ash.

"Easy, girl. I know you like it warm, but a forest fire's not going to help us stay off the news."

She snorted again, without the cinders this time. I gave her a fond scratch on the back of her head before getting camp set up. Thinking about it I would probably sleep better with my team for company than subconsciously trying to keep track of half a city block's worth of emotional people from a center bed.

I lay down on my sleeping bag and pulled my hat back on to keep my ears warm, resigned that I would find myself in a pile with my team by the time I woke up.

There were worse ways to go to sleep.

(Ranger Jacobs)

With the evacuation of the mainland and so many people coming to Ever Grande Island, there was no small number of people trying to get away from the crowded city for some space to breathe. And with the increase in people, more reports were being called in about people not reserving spots at the camps, hikers getting lost, or really any number of things that warranted a ranger's attention.

But even after patrolling the southern half of the island for the last four years, I'd never gotten anything quite this far fetched.

"Penny, could you repeat that? I'm fairly certain I didn't hear that right."

"I'm pretty sure you did." The other ranger's voice came through the radio. "Some hikers were looking pretty spooked when they got back to the trailhead. All three of them said they spotted a gyarados about halfway up the river trail. Looked like friends so they could all be in on the joke, but it's still worth looking into. You're the closest anyway."

I sighed before responding. "Fine. Gimme a call if anything else comes up."

"Don't worry. If I hear an excuse I'll send it your way." The grin in her voice was audible even through the radio. "Wouldn't count on it though, so you might want to get hiking."

I didn't respond, hooking the device to my belt and looking at my companion. "What do you think, Cooper? Think we'll find a gyarados taking a nap fifteen miles inland?"

He peered back up at me with his ears up, sniffing a few times before padding down the trail ahead of me. _'Let's go find out.'_

I chuckled a little before following him. He was all grown up and evolved but he still acted like the curious baby zigzagoon I'd found him as. Penny had been right, though. I was only on the trail she'd mentioned and it was a short hike before it joined back up with the larger loop around the urbanized half of the island. Would be more than half an hour to confirm that sea dragons tended to stay _in the sea_.

But then I spotted something large and blue through the trees. Cooper had stopped a short way ahead of me, staring right alongside me. Whatever it was, it was in the middle of a fairly large clearing so I would be able to get a pretty good look once the trail got out of the trees.

 _I'll be damned._

There was a gyarados coiled into a neat circle in the middle of the meadow, dead to the world as it continued to snore. I must have stood there scratching my head for a good minute before finally taking my radio off of my belt.

"Uh, Penny? I found what the hikers were talking about."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense! What've you got?"

Despite myself, I paused before answering. "They were right. There's a gyarados just curled up and sleeping away in the middle of the meadow east of the river."

"Yeah, har har Jack. Seriously, what is it?"

"I'm not pulling your leg. Either you spiked my coffee - _again_ \- or there's a gyarados a hundred feet in front of me."

There was a moment of silence.

"You didn't spike my coffee, did you?"

"I haven't done that in days!"

"..."

"No, I did not spike your coffee, you overgrown grump."

"Well, that still leaves us with a bit of a problem, what am I supposed to-"

The snoring had stopped and two large draconic eyes were focused on me.

"Jack?"

"It's awake, and it's staring at me."

There was a moment of silence. "I don't think any of the rangers is quite up for herding a gyarados back to the ocean. Try to get back here, I'll see if the PD has anyone that can help."

I didn't answer, just taking a very slow step backward. Cooper mirrored my movements, neither of us glancing away from the enormous beast. We made it about halfway back into the trees when it started moving.

I went still, getting ready to bolt if it came our way. _But they're supposed to be fast, play dead? Are they carrion eaters?_

Before I could come up with a plan, the dragon lifted one of its coils off of the ground and a trainer staggered out. He didn't look visibly injured, almost... groggy?

 _Wait a second._ Something about him pinged my memory. The hat made it click.

"Penny, you're not going to believe this. It's that kid from the news, Wallace."

"Jack if you're pulling a joke-"

"You're the one who called this in! Hang on, he's coming this way."

There was a somewhat tense moment as the trainer closed the rest of the distance.

"Do you need something?" He asked shortly, sleeping sand still in the corners of his eyes.

"Uh, no. Sorry. We just had some hikers who said they'd seen a gyarados by one of the trails, and, well..." I found myself at a loss for words. I was a little bit taller than him but I sure didn't feel like it. I could have closed my eyes and still been able to track him by presence alone.

"Oh, whoops. Though I was further out." He brought a hand up and rubbed his eyes with a yawn, managing to be both underwhelming and slightly scary at the same time. "Should be getting up soon anyways. Sorry about the trouble. I've got some ground to cover today, so I'll just pack up and be out of your hair. That alright?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine." The words were out of my mouth before my mind had a chance to catch up.

"'Kay. Lemme just-" he stopped to look down at Cooper, who'd been creeping close enough to start sniffing at him. "Oh, hey there little guy. What's your name?" He leaned down and offered a hand for inspection. I was about to answer when he beat me to it. "Cooper? Suits you." He stood with an approving nod. "You want to go meet the team?"

It took a moment for me to process all of the surprises before I actually got to the question. Cooper and I looked at each other and he twitched his nose at me. _'Up to you.'_

Make a good story for my niece at least.

"Sure, why not?"

(Wallace)

I had slept longer than I meant to. I usually woke up around dawn, but I'd wound up close enough to Minnow that I wasn't able to see the sky from my resting position. So all things considered it was probably for the best that the ranger had found me when he did.

It was also pretty easy to like him. Just the fact that he let Cooper walk around on his own was a good start, and his albeit nervous professionalism only cemented the impression. The offer to let him greet the team was spur of the moment, but if it helped dissuade any of the reputation the media had dropped on me then it would be time well spent.

Honestly, what confused me most was how nervous the ranger was. Minnow tended to have that effect, but no small amount of it was being directed at me as we approached my camp.

 _No being grumpy. Cheerful harmless kid, not terrorist hunter._

"Hey Minnow. He's fine, you can stop scowling now." I walked up to his head and scratched behind his eyebrow horns.

He let out a content rumble and his coils loosened and slid apart, opening a gap near his head that lent access to the sleeping area. Thankfully, he also closed his eyes and rolled onto his side so the ranger wouldn't have to get to close to the toothy end.

"So big and scaly here is Minnow. He likes to act tough, but he has a soft spot for kids." I gestured for the ranger to follow as I walked past the now dozing dragon. Imp was blinking blearily next to Sylph, who apparently hadn't slept at all in favor of staring at the rest of us. "Princess Floats-a-lot will steal any and all of your food if you give her the chance."

Imp ignored me in favor of drifting over to the somewhat overwhelmed ranger.

 _He's fine. Just came to see why Minnow was taking a nap in one of the fields._

She peered at him before shrugging kneeling down next to Cooper and starting up a conversation.

"The four-winged bat is Sylph. Don't mind him, he just likes staring. The volcano is Cindy and the sole responsible party for my default hairstyle." I pulled my hat off to display my cowlick before replacing my headware. "And last is our lovable little anchor, Marble."

The ranger just looked around before scratching the back of his neck. At least he was more confused than nervous now. "Gotta be honest. For the crew that broke that Aqua hideout, you're not quite what I expected."

My face twitched a little bit against my will.

"N-not that you can't obviously handle yourself. It's just, well I wouldn't have expected to find someone working for the League sleeping on a hiking trail."

I forced myself to shrug. "It's not like I haven't done it before, or that I'm actually working for the League."

Confusion, with the off-balance of surprise. "You're not? But the news..."

"Extrapolated. Incorrectly, and on the cusp of libel. I could probably ask for a retraction, but I have been working _with_ the League for a few months now, and it's all close enough to the truth that nobody would really honor the difference. I'm mostly just mad that everyone on the continent is going to know my name for the next _year._ " I would have kicked a stone if I there were one available and I wasn't in the middle of a conversation.

Or at least I had been. The ranger had gone silent, which reminded me.

"Speaking of names. I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Wallace, pokémon trainer and researcher." I offered a hand.

"Jacobs, or Jack if you'd prefer. Pokéranger." He took my hand and shook. "Oh, and on the subject of jobs." He pulled a radio from his belt. "Got everything sorted out Penny, no need to call the cavalry."

"You sure?" A female voice responded. "Phoebe's on patrol today, shouldn't be too long if to convince her to drop by if there's actually... y'know."

 _Phoebe?_ That _Phoebe? Is that why I recognized her name?_ It more sense the more I thought about it. The League had a ghost type trainer, she'd been on Wattson's call list, and was an older sibling to The Twins. Nothing solid, but too close to ignore.

"Wait, as in Phoebe from the League? I actually need to talk with her. Any chance you could let her know I'm here?"

Both of the rangers were silent for a moment. Radio lady answered first.

"I'll need to check, gimme a minute."

I felt a little bad. Neither of the rangers had had any idea I was here and now I was making their morning extra weird.

The wait was short, but Cooper had moved over to Marble to sniff curiously by the time radio lady responded.

"She says she's on her way. You guys visible from the sky?"

"Yeah." Jack and I responded simultaneously. We glanced at each other before I motioned for him to continue. "Should be pretty easy to spot, the gyarados is still out. And speaking of which-"

A dusty grey cloud, smelling like freshly turned soil and bonemeal, dropped down into our midst. "Heya Wallace!" It called cheerfully.

The dust seemed to compact even further until it revealed a grinning Phoebe. For a moment I thought she was wearing a suit of mummy bandages until the smoke pulled into the gaps and it started peeling off. A moment later and the dusclops had reformed behind her. I avoided looking at it as best as I could - my head was already feeling hollow from the proximity. Sylph and Cindy glanced at the crypt spawn, but Imp was nervously edging away from it. Minnow had fallen back asleep and Marble was busy muttering to Cooper.

"I'll leave you two to it then. Ranger duties and whatnot. Come on, Cooper." Jack waved his companion over before retreating faster than strictly necessary.

"And I thought I was bad at scaring civilians." I smirked at Phoebe once he was out of earshot.

"Like you're one to point fingers, Mr. National Television." She lightly punched my arm, not quite sending me staggering. "Anyway, I was kinda hoping to call you, but there hasn't been a good chance since the whole Mt. Pyre thing. You have time? Also what happened to your ear?" She gestured to my hearing aid.

"Yeah, I have some time. And hearing damage, from Groudon. I'm… not likely to recover it on the left side." I tapped the offending ear.

"Oh, shoot." She trailed off, surprise and pity hidden from conventional senses.

"Nothing to be done about it now. I take it you know about the sub?" She nodded. "Well, long story short I can't do much to help against Groudon so all I can try for is to keep Aqua from making everything even worse. But I can't really chase them to the bottom of the ocean, so I'm stuck polishing off any teleport locations I can still get to. All I have left now is Sootopolis and Pacifidlog."

She took the topic change in good grace. "Huh, would've thought you'd be going to the ends of the earth to get diver training then. Not that I'm holding it against you. Never liked the water myself."

"I mean it's on my agenda but being able to scope a hundred feet deeper into the water isn't going to help much for an ocean floor search."

She gave me a weird look. "I meant like deep sea diving, with your gyarados. You can definitely link well enough for it." She poked a finger at my forehead.

"Wait, what? I thought there was a depth cutoff for people before you start needing actual diving equipment, or a submarine."

"For _people_ , yeah. But if you have a big enough water type... Okay really, how have you not heard of this, you're the one with the sea dragon!"

"How would I know to look for something I didn't know existed? I haven't even been a trainer for a year yet and I-" I closed my mouth.

Phoebe dropped what she was about to stay and just looked at me instead. Her head was tilted a little to the side but her expression was otherwise inscrutable.

"You're telling the truth." She finally spoke. "When did you start?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "About... four months ago? Feels longer than that. Moved to Littleroot last April."

There was another moment of quiet before she feigned a shrug. "Well, at least I can see why Grandma trusts you so much. Which brings me to my next point - you still have the orb we gave you?"

 _Orb? What-_ "Oh, yeah." I walked over to my bag and started digging for the crystal objects. It took some digging but I eventually got the monochromatic objects out.

"And you got the one Team Magma stole, awesome. No, you can keep them." She waved my hands away, to no small amount of confusion. "I just wanted to make sure you still had them. Reason I said Grandma trusts you is she said she wanted you to hold onto them."

That was not the response I had been expecting. "Are... you sure? Shouldn't they go back to Mt. Pyre or something? Or at least get stowed away somewhere? Or, best of all, why doesn't the League hold onto them?"

Waved it off like I wasn't discussing what to do with two apocalypses the size of coconuts. "That's what I said, too! But she seemed adamant that you were supposed to hold onto them, at least for now. Doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm not the Crone of Pyre."

 _I mean, mobility is its own armor. So maybe she's just banking on the fact that I'm damn near impossible to pin down. But even so, that seems needlessly risky._

"You're sure?" I asked one more time.

"As sure as I'm going to get, and the fact that Kyogre hasn't woken up yet means just keeping them together should be fine. We're doing what we can about Groudon, but you should probably stick to searching for the sub."

I rubbed my collarbone. _This seems like a bad idea, but she has to understand the risks. Guess I'll hold onto them._ With no small amount of trepidation I wrapped the spheres and put them back in my bag.

"One last thing I wanted to talk to you about. I'm actually the only one from the League in Ever Grande who can do patrols right now, so I have my hands pretty full. As it turns out, no one's been through Victory Road in a couple weeks. Between that and someone sending us a tip about some remainder of Magma hiding out, I need someone I trust to go look since I can't do it myself."

I pursed my lips. _Magma's all but done for with their leadership in cuffs, but if there is anyone hiding down there they might not have gotten word yet. I have no idea what they'd be after in the most hostile cave on the continent, but they've blindsided us before._ _A day or two of less searching for Aqua isn't going to make much difference anyway._ Pretty easy choice when I thought about it like that. I still had things I needed to do though.

"Alright, I'll help. But if there's any chance you can get that deep sea diver training you were talking about set up for when I get to Sootopolis that would really help make up for lost time."

"Man, I know I'm a member of the Elite Four, but an entire nav call? You don't ask for small favors." She grinned. "You'll get your training, and on the subject of lost time I think we both have things we need to be doing. Call when you get out of Victory Road?" Her dusclops began drifting apart into bandages again and wrapping around her again.

"Call you then!" I nodded. She gave me a mock salute and the cloud obscured her from view before silently flying back into the sky. I turned back to my team. "Alright guys, time to get to work."

I was able to make it to the cave with only one person looking like they'd started to recognize me. Being able to feel their curiosity made it a simple matter of never showing them my face _ever_. But when I finally got to the entrance of Victory Road I came to a realization.

The only other real cave I had experience with was Granite Cave. Shoal Cave had been too shallow to really count, especially since the whole thing was still lit by natural light. The Fiery Path could also count, but that had already been lit between the plentiful fire types and occasional artificial bulb. Same could be said for Magma's hideout.

Of those, the only one with a warning sign had been the Fiery Path, advising to bring extra water because of the heat. None of them had anything like this.

There were signs and warnings practically shouting the presence of the stone tunnel to anyone stupid enough to try entering. Which was fair in retrospect, Victory Road and Sky Tower were the only places in Hoenn with a mark five danger rating. Colloquially, it was considered the last rite of passage before someone could challenge the League with any hope of actually getting anywhere, hence the name.

That hadn't really clicked before now. My fight with The Twins had been difficult, but I'd had elbow room to spare. I only needed to collect Juan's badge and I would be officially allowed to take the final test of the League Challenge myself. I doubted the number of people in the region who could say that numbered more than half a hundred.

So here I was, delving into the most dangerous cave on the continent with the intent of picking a fight with any cornered terrorists I might find within.

I made myself start walking before I thought too hard about that. Sylph and Minnow were balled, but I might be able to let Sylph out if there was enough clearance.

The light rapidly faded until I couldn't make out anything but the stone beneath me and the entrance behind me. I pulled out my flashlight and carefully panned it upward.

Nothing but light vanishing into the thick cave air. That was the best answer I was going to get. I pressed Sylph's ball and let him out as I snuffed my light.

"We're going dark, bud. We'll need you to scout like you did before." Imp helped me pass the memories of Granite Cave and Dewford Gym. Sylph chirped and took to the air, almost immediately vanishing from all of my native senses.

Sylph ahead, Marble in front, Imp by my side, and Cindy in the back. I walked into the cave with helpless senses and confidence.

It didn't take me long to learn what made Victory Road so dangerous. Whether it had started off dangerous or became that way in some self-fulfilling prophecy, the effect was terrifying.

The pokémon who lived here weren't just strong - and they certainly were -, they were _smart._ Sylph had been catching glimpses of other golbats, but they'd never stuck around long enough for me to get a feel. Any lairons and hariyamas we passed also seemed strangely aware of my empathic radius and kept clear.

Right up until they didn't.

The only warning was a sound like the beginnings of a rockslide before a pack of lairons was on top of us. Charging two at a time out of a small side passage, the distance between us had vanished before I could respond.

 _Flamethrower!_ Cindy's humps glowed bright for a moment before opening her mouth and belching a swath of flame that covered the rest of the distance.

The two leading dual types reared up, I would have mistaken it for panic if their emotions hadn't stayed fixed to resolute anger. When they brought their front limbs down, a plated field of green energy shimmered into existence between them and the approaching fire, parting it harmlessly in front of them.

 _Protect, they're thinking tactically. If they're going to follow up-_ my attention got dragged away by a spike of alarm from Sylph.

Said alarm was from the swarm of zubats and golbats suddenly diving our position. Coordinating or opportunists, it didn't make much difference since we were still the ones in the middle.

 _Earthquake, Thunderbolt, Air Cutter!_ I withdrew Marble briefly to keep her from getting caught in the crossfire. Cindy, Imp, and Sylph attacked at my directions. The sudden roiling earth hit just as the Protect faded, sending the first two lairons crashing back into the group even as the shockwave continued through the rest. Lightning lashed through the swarm, sending streamers of blinding light through the swarm even as Sylph blitzed through them to break what formation they had left.

In the space of a moment, the rush of hostile pokémon had reversed into a hasty retreat. Cautiously, I let Marble back out. All of us blinked a few times to get the afterimage of the lighting to fade.

That could have gone much worse. If the Protect had lasted a moment longer, or if the swarm hadn't been so tightly bunched, or if there'd been a third group...

I promised myself to keep my wits about me.

Six mobs later and we were starting to flag, all of us. The timing had been random as far as I'd been able to tell. Nothing for several hours, then two within five minutes of each other, each tactic different from the last. Getting rocks pushed down on us, medichams pulling our attention away for the sableyes to pounce, golbats carrying mawiles over us.

The creativity and teamwork was mind boggling, but through it all I had noticed something which was probably the only reason I was still pressing forward.

For all their ingenuity, they did not appear to be learning from their mistakes. The golbats still put themselves in place to be electrocuted and charges kept approaching from Cindy's side. Admittedly, the ghost had been something of a problem, but nothing insurmountable.

I had been in this cave for many hours by now. My nav said it was only four in the afternoon, but my internal clock was being accelerated by the stress of constantly keeping my guard up.

Since Victory Road was likely to take a couple days to get through, I figured there was relatively little harm in going to bed early if it meant I was well rested when I was up and moving. It was only shortly after pulling my pack off and opening it that I realized I was blind, and had been for several hours. Being the only human in the group meant I was the only one who couldn't see in the cave, so somewhere along the way Imp had helped me start piggybacking off of my team's senses. Between Sylph's eyes and Marble's ears, I hadn't even noticed my own sensory deprivation.

It was a bit strange, needing to tilt my bag to Sylph so he could see the contents; all the same, I got my sleeping pad set out and everyone huddled together and settled down. It was a bit of a risk falling asleep in Victory Road, but with all of us so tightly grouped we should be able to respond if another group decided to try their luck.

It took a little while, but eventually we all got to sleep.

(Nurse Joy)

Everyone in the clinic had been working almost nonstop ever since Chimney erupted. Even being as far out as Mauville had done little to lighten the load. If it wasn't directly dealing with the fallout, then there was some secondary or tertiary repercussion that needed addressing.

So it was a minor blessing when a small gap appeared in the workload. It was the first time in almost four days that I hadn't been immediately going from one task to the next.

That said, there was still work to be done. The highest on the list currently was the notifications from the automated system, I needed to call a patient to ask...

 _Ah, him._

The strange trainer who'd been dragged into the center by one of Wattson's. He'd been the first drop of the flood. The doctor hadn't been exaggerating his injuries either - while he did technically have more than a week to accept surgery for his ear, the readout had put a hardline at about eight and a half days.

I'd still call him of course, ignoring the fact that it was my job (which it was), permanent hearing damage wasn't something to just shrug off. I didn't expect it to amount to anything, but all I could do was hope. Even if he was busy breaking another criminal hideout he still might find time. Maybe.

I picked the phone up from my desk and dialed the number Wattson had given us. He didn't pick up, but that was hardly unusual. After leaving a message, I turned back to his file. While it was unlikely that both the doctor and I had misread the results of the scans, there'd been no time to review them since, so I pulled up the results and flitted over them with a practiced eye.

One of the readings from the more mundane sensors caught my eye.

 _Temp: 104.6 ℉_

I stared at that number longer than I should have, mind racing.

 _That's... absurd. He wasn't displaying any signs of a fever, he'd been agitated but fully coherent..._

I briefly brought up a few other patients' readings, everything came up normal. Probably not an equipment failure then.

I looked more closely at the other readouts, digging into the sheets of data. There was the swelling and altered blood flow from his injuries, but nothing unusual there. My next clue was actually back on the first page.

 _Heart rate: 42.3 bpm_

Unusual, but not in a bad way or even out of the question. He'd been an in-field researcher for several months. That sort of work environment demands a certain level of physical fitness.

 _But he'd been agitated, even if he'd been most of the way calmed down that would indicate a resting heart rate in the thirties. That kind of a deviation..._

 _Has he Bonded?_

A search through the database brought up his team. I felt my eyebrows rise.

 _Gardevoir (Imp), female. Height: 5' 4". Weight: 111.9 lbs. Rating 45._

 _Gyarados (Minnow), male. Height: 23' 6" Length: 81' 9". Weight: 14,709.5 lbs. Rating 43._

 _Crobat (Sylph), male. Height: 5' 8" Outer Wingspan: 13' 0" Inner Wingspan: 9' 4". Weight: 156.1 lbs. Rating 42._

 _Camerupt (Cindy), female. Height: 6' 0". Weight: 481.6 lbs. Rating 42._

 _Lairon (Marble), female. Height: 3' 4". Weight: 310.8 lbs. Rating 41._

If I didn't know better, I would think I was looking at a gym leader's profile. Seven badges on record, too. I found myself giving much more credence to the news story this morning.

Whatever his capabilities, I'd found what I was looking for. He did in fact have a dragon on his team, which could potentially explain the heart rate. He had a fire type too, and that would make for a nice and neat explanation for the body temperature anomalies, except...

 _That would mean he's Bonded with more than one of his team._ Such a thing was not _unheard_ of, but it was rare enough that other explanations usually got more consideration.

But even that didn't quite match up with the rest of his profile. The notes said his gardevoir was his closest companion, frequently communicating telepathically with little to no strain from either of them. And if he was devoted enough to prompt a bond based evolution with a golbat, then there might be a chance of even more than two bonds, if that was even what was going on.

I went back to the scans, a goal in mind this time. It didn't take me long to find it.

 _Mirror neuron activity almost quadrupled. Bone density of 5.22g/mL. Weight: 205.9 lbs._

All well outside normal parameters for his body type. And all common signs of Bonding with psychic, flying, and rock type respectively. But that brought the number of Bonds displayed by symptoms up to _five._ That went beyond absurd, edging into storytelling. The only two recorded cases of that were...

League Champions Red and Gold.

I sent a notification to Dr. Madrone, he was seeing a patient at the moment but he would be out in a minute.

This warranted professional attention.

(Wallace)

I awoke to the peaceful sound of someone crushing rocks six inches away from my head. Half deaf or not it was difficult to ignore.

"Marble. Really?" I grumbled half to myself.

*crunch* *crunch* *crunch*

' _Yes really. I'm_ hungry.

I hoisted myself up at that. Something about the way she'd responded rang in the back of my mind. Still half asleep, I followed the thread of emotions and impressions she was feeling.

 _Full hunger._ She'd already eaten quite a bit of stone but it was sharp enough to almost feel like a craving. Just like the last time she'd started her evolution.

Well, if she was going to pick a time to evolve, she'd picked well. I wouldn't have been able to do jack for her if we'd been on the water or still searching the islands. If the cave map Phoebe had sent to my nav was to be believed then I was going to be in here for another few days, so she would have plenty of time to acclimate.

*crunch* *crunch* *crunch*

None of that was going to help me get back to sleep however.

"Okay fine, I'm up." I rubbed my face and blinked, clearing my eyes even as they failed to provide input.

With Marble likely to keep eating, I decided to nudge everyone else awake and get started on another nerve wracking day in the cave. Or rather continue the same day, my nav cheerfully informed me that it was just a bit before midnight.

My sleep schedule was going to be complete garbage by the end of this. I tucked my nav back on my belt and went about getting everyone their breakfast.

One extra bowl.

Then we were off again. Marble had eaten enough rocks for now, but apparently she hadn't had enough to accommodate the silly amount of material her final evolution would need. So for the time being she was taking a nap in her ball.

Once she evolved, my team would be topped out. It was a strange thought.

I finished packing my sleeping pad and we were off again.

I had thought that Marble's second evolution would behave similarly to her first. From a biological perspective it probably did, just accounting for her current size instead of the knee high cannonball she'd been when I'd found her.

That said, her scaling up made it that much harder to ignore. We'd come to some kind of underground river running silently through the cave with plenty of tasty rocks for her to eat, so she'd gone to town. After eating what couldn't be less than half a ton in riverrock, she'd taken a drink long enough for me to worry about her breathing. Her heavy, rattling breath after she finished only confirmed my suspicion.

Then she'd gone and done it all again. I did not understand where she'd been putting it all. She didn't seem to know either, and she didn't really care.

' _These rocks are friggin' delicious.'_ My words, but not much was lost in translation.

 _I'm glad they're good, but I'm worried you're going to hurt yourself if you keep eating this much._

' _Almost done.'_ True to her word, she finished macerating the latest victim of her sedimentary rampage and started scratching at her plates with an almost frantic fervor.

God, I felt itchy just looking at her, I was surprised when I found myself gripping the plates for her to lever against. Didn't stop me from helping once I was there; I could _feel_ her stony skin twitching in irritation under the metal.

They came off surprisingly easily, each with a soft crack as they separated. After a minute of curious watching, Imp lent her help as well. Marble hadn't even waited for us to finish before she started eating the scraps.

Knowing what was about to happen, I raised my scanner. The glowing started a moment later as she swallowed the last piece.

For every other evolution, there had been some level of background noise. A quiet wind, a fight, something had always been making noise.

In the sheer quiet of the cave, I learned what an evolution _sounded_ like.

There wasn't any crunching or cracking as bones and joints realigned, no muted grunts of pain as her flesh changed shape, not even the sounds of breathing. Just an almost silent grinding of stone and the _feeling._

I've already described it once, when Imp evolved. The best I can come to describing Marble is 'similar but different'. Though that's not very helpful so I'll try harder anyway.

Imp had had a sense of expansion, like the physical volume her mind could inhabit had been ballooning outward. Her body growing had almost felt like a side effect, a necessity to host what her mind now was.

This is how Marble was similar, she wasn't stretching up and out, she was just expanding. Not changing as much as adding. The difference stood out in the effect. While Imp had all but billowed outward, Marble's expansion was relatively much smaller. The result was that she'd only gotten a little bit bigger and _much_ more powerful.

Or at least that's what it felt like. Looking at her as the glow finally abated, saying she'd only grown a little felt like saying Minnow was just a big fish.

Let me put it this way. She was goddamn enormous. She couldn't have been less than fifteen feet from tip to tail and she would dwarf any human by simply standing up.

On another note, she already had her new steel plates. The stony parts of her body looked like they made up most of the growth, the steel primarily relocating to her face in a menacing helmet-mask-shield thing. The other scraps looked to have banded around her joints and claws. All in all, it didn't look like she had much more metal on her than before, she'd just relocated what she had.

After the darkness finished creeping back, she rumbled with a sound like rocks shifting. Then she stood up.

Pardoning Minnow, she had to be the largest in our group by several factors. Cindy was big, to be sure, but Marble looked like she could fill most of a room on her own. She couldn't be less than seven feet tall, maybe more if you counted the horns. The stone of her body had also reverted back to a more typical dark grey from the pale sandy color she'd been as a lairon.

"So? How's it feel being all grown up now?"

' _Strong.'_ And all the confidence that came with that. She'd been on the skittish side as an aron, getting more confident as a lairon but keeping her reserved personality. Now though? She had the same baseline assurance as Minnow that she wouldn't need to avoid fights, because everyone else would make sure to do that for her.

There weren't many more ambushes after that.

Two days later and I hadn't found a trace of Magma. A bit frustrating, but there were still other accomplishments of note other than Marble becoming a dinosaur made of metal and power.

For starters, I'd completely inverted my sleep schedule. I honestly hadn't been sure if my nav had been working properly when I saw the AM where I'd been expecting a PM.

The next thing was that I'd finally figured out how to dissociate my senses from my teammates, so I would be aware of who's eyes / ears / whatever I was getting input from.

The last thing of note was the singularly most surprising thing that could have happened.

Two hundred feet from the exit of Victory Road, I stumbled across Wally. I would normally emphasize that this was the same Wally I'd spoken to all the way back in Mauville when the triathlon had just been starting, but something had obviously changed

I'd been surprised enough just to sense another person down here, I hadn't connected the dots until Sylph laid eyes on him.

" _Wally?_ " I asked, rounding the corner. He had his team out, like I did mine. Orsus had evolved into a gardevoir and Allium into a bellossom. He had also acquired three new members, all evolved as well; an altaria, a delcatty, and a magneton all grouped around him as I approached.

"Wallace?" He looked in my direction, apparently having little trouble with the darkness. "What are you doing here?"

"Should I be the one asking that? I'm doing a patrol for Phoebe. But seriously, why are you in Victory Road?" _And how in the name of all creation did you get to the end of it?_

I saw one of his eyebrows twitch, belatedly remembering he was likely Bonded with Orsus.

"The League hired me to guard the north exit. Didn't want me going in very far, just said to keep an eye out for any Magma mooks."

That made a little more sense than Wally traversing the cave on his own, but even for him to just stick to the entrances...

He'd been training even faster than me. Not to sound conceited, but that wasn't a small deal.

"What about you? Thought you'd be hounding Aqua what with the news a few days ago."

I grimaced. "It's on the list. I would be except for the fact that I don't have deep sea diver training and Phoebe needed someone to patrol Victory Road after someone sent us a tip about Magma hiding down here. Starting to think it was Aqua just to throw us off their tail."

"Ah, suppose that makes sense. Anyway, I should probably let you visit the League pokécenter. I doubt it's been an easy few days for you. My shift's about over anyway."

"It's been a bit easier since Marble decided to evolve, but yeah. It hasn't been perfect. Shall we?"

We started back towards the cave mouth in silence. Too many questions for either of us to know how to ask.

Though there was one in particular I was curious about.

 _Earth to Wally, you there?_

He jumped a little as I pushed the thoughts toward him.

' _You scared me. Not used to hearing anyone but me or Orsus in my head.'_

 _Sorry, The Twins did something similar to me. I just wanted to see if I could pull it off too._

' _Looks like it. So what have you been up to since Mauville?'_

The League outpost Wally was working out of was a little way away from the mouth of Victory Road. Feeling the sunlight after all that was _weird_. Knowing what time it was and convincing your body of it are often two different things. We both made sure to admire Marble now that she was out in the sun.

Really though, it was the middle of the night why was it so bright out?

Wally and I continued our conversation between my internal grumbling, both of us more comfortable skipping the whole talking part of the conversation anyway. Apparently his family had elected to stay with relatives in Ever Grande, being one of the early birds out of Verdanturf. Wally kept his training up all the while. Not long after getting into a regular routine he'd made friends with another trainer by the name of Sydney, a dark type specialist by Wally's accounts.

That lent some credence to Wally's rapid growth; that was about as bad as type disadvantages got.

' _His training has helped me so much. Never would have been League Guard material without him.'_ There was a glow of gratitude from the thoughts he didn't try to mask. A feeling that almost rang familial.

That was about when we got to The League, as in _The League_. The seat of the most powerful and trusted trainers on the continent.

Wally waltzed in like he worked there. I smirked to myself and followed him in.

In the months I'd been travelling, I'd gotten a much better overview of how the world actually was. It was easier to separate anticipation and dreams from what I was actually likely to see.

So it was a bit of a shock when The League was everything I'd dreamed it to be.

 _Those are actual marble pillars. I thought the website was exaggerating._ In fact, the whole foyer was an absolute work of architectural beauty.

There was a general ground floor with doors leading off to the sides, and one particular counter that stuck out to the left of The Stairs. They really couldn't be described without capital letters, I needed no experience with internal design to know they were the focus of the room. Perhaps the most surprising thing of all, the doors were big enough I didn't need to ball anyone. I could probably let Minnow out with relatively little worry of him running into anything.

The nurse behind the desk looked up as we came in. "Hey Wally, who's your fr..." She trailed off and I could see her eyes widen as she spotted my hat before darting over the rest of my team.

"Yeah, it's him. He just got out of Victory Road and I was hoping we could use the tray. Also, is Phoebe in?" I let Wally do the talking while I continued to examine the enormous building around me.

"I believe so. Here you go, let me check." She pressed a button under the desk and the tray behind her whirred to life before she turned to the PC. "Yes, she's in. I'll call her down?"

I dragged my attention back to the nurse. "Yes, please." _Everyone okay with the tray?_ I asked my team as usual.

Confirmation from all hands, which wasn't surprising since I'd already taken medicine to any of the more moderate injuries. And on that note, "Any chance I could buy some potions as well? Had to use a few in the cave."

She'd been surprised when I'd walked in, but she was doing an admirable job of rolling with it. "Certainly. What strengths were you looking for?"

I hashed out what I needed to replace while the tray ran its course. The moment the tray finished, Phoebe kicked the doors at the top of the extremely central staircase open.

"You're still alive!" She exclaimed, vaulting the railing towards us and shrugging the fifteen foot fall.

"Yes. Am I not supposed to be?" I responded dryly.

"No, of course you are! It also means Sydney owes me a hundred poké. Anyway, you haven't dragged a conga line of prisoners out behind you so I take it you didn't find anything?"

I decided not to press the bet. Pick your battles. "Afraid not. To be honest I think it might've just been Aqua messing with us. I doubt even Maxxie would have been able to get through Victory Road, let alone set up shop."

She frowned and nodded. "Figured. It sucks, but it makes sense. On the brighter side of things, I finally got Juan's butt in gear so your diver training is all set up. He's one of the people working on Chimney right now so he can't give you the training himself, but he spoke pretty highly of one of his As much as I would like to grab some food and catch up, we still have a region to save."

"Yeah, guess I'll be talking to you later. You too, Wally. Keep up the good work."

"Likewise," Wally gave a nod. "See you around."

"What he said - and make sure you take care of yourself." Phoebe shot a pointed look to my hearing aid.

I didn't say anything, just smiling wryly before Imp warped us away from her ball.

 _Don't worry, already made that promise to my parents._

So why didn't I want them to know that?


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: I know this is a little late and a little shorter than usual and my buffer is steadily shrinking but I might just be able to hold out until the end, and we are getting there. Maybe one or two more chapters depending on how it works out. The next chapter will _probably_ be on time. Also, no need to worry. Breaktime is over. Now that everyone is evolved and Victory Road is covered, we're out of excuses to be nice to our squishy little protagonist and his martyr complex like every young hero ever.

Chapter 16: How Easy This Could Have Been

The teleport brought us back to Mossdeep. It was a few hours closer to Sootopolis than Ever Grande, making it the closest landmark I had. We landed at the top of the west cliffs.

I released the three who could travel over water, relaying an apology to Minnow as I let him out. Pardoning a brief excursion in Victory Road, he'd spent most of the last three days in his ball. He accepted the apology but made no effort to mask his relief at getting to stretch out properly.

If I ever found a place to live of my own, I would make certain to have enough space for everyone. It always seemed that some number of my team had to sit something out for some logistic or another.

I pushed my unhappiness down, Chimney was still going off and I had to make sure a certain god of the ocean stayed asleep. Minnow offered his usual perch and I climbed on, nudging him towards...

The cliff. I sensed his mounting exhilaration just a little too late.

 _Minnow, no!_

' _Minnow, yes!'_

He surged forward and leapt into the air with a roar that covered my own, significantly less manly exclamations. We went over the side of the cliff and hit the water fast enough that I only got wet after slamming past the surface entirely. Full days of dedicated practice riding the energetic dragon are all that kept me from getting pulled off entirely. I had to grab my hat before it got yanked off in the rush.

What it did _not_ prepare me for was getting water in sinuses I didn't know I had.

There was a minute of indignant coughing before I stopped tasting salt.

 _No ≠ Yes, you great overgrown sea snake. I would consider it a personal favor if you refrained from drowning me._

' _I make no promises.'_

I hid a smile as I whapped him with my hat and donned the soggy article. _Yeah, whatever. Let's get a move on. Sootopolis isn't getting any closer with us sitting here._ I nudged him forward.

On the road again, so to speak.

I wound up alternating between Minnow and Sylph as we made our way to Sootopolis. Minnow to get some last minute riding in before the dive training had us do whatever it was we needed to, and Sylph because _flying._

I'd gotten out of Victory Road at about noon and my brain was grudgingly acknowledging the actual position of the sun and resetting my circadian rhythm. Hopefully I would be back to normal after a night's sleep. The problem was that it had taken most of the day to get from Mossdeep to Ever Grande, and I'd only started halfway through the day.

Evening had fallen when we were still more than twenty miles out. It was night when the pale white dome of Sootopolis came into view. Sylph's eyes were best able to make it out in the darkness. It looked exactly like the pictures - a colossal egg with the top carved off, jutting out of the ocean. It was almost eerie. Especially with the knowledge that flying in through the top was the only way in.

Remember that thing I said about Sootopolis being too hard to access to make it a viable haven for refugees? That's why. It apparently wasn't uncommon for people born in Sootopolis to spend their entire lives there.

We got up to the walls of the city and I had Minnow pull to a stop. Up close, the impression of an eggshell was only reinforced. The faintly rough material looked indifferent to the ocean water slapping on the sides, unmarred as far as I could tell. Which was weird - not much handled constant exposure to saltwater very well to my knowledge. Wood rots, metal rusts, etc..

I shook my head, trying to derail the errant train of thought. Sylph circled down towards where I sat on Minnow. I stood from his back and held my arms out in a T.

With a tight circle and a cry, Sylph dived towards me and grabbed my arms before hauling me into the air. After a few powerful wingbeats he tossed me into the air. For a moment I was in freefall, then Sylph swooped under me and I landed on his back.

I was glad we'd already practiced the transition enough that I could do it in my half-asleep state. Not that _I_ really put much work into it. We passed by Minnow and I tossed his ball to recall him before Sylph, Imp, and I started climbing to the opening at the top of the dome. It took a little while to get to the top.

When we finally did, I peered down into the pit that was Sootopolis. Concentric rings had been carved out of the inner walls of the structure I was mentally referring to as 'the egg'. Each was flat and wide enough to have room for a narrow house and a footpath that served as a sidewalk. In the middle was a lake that had to take up at least two thirds of the space in the basin. Altogether there couldn't have been more than a hundred or so structures.

The one I was looking for was almost comically easy to pick out. The pokécenter stuck out with its sole red roof among the whitewash of the other monochromatic buildings. I chuckled to myself as we glided down to it. When we landed and I recalled Sylph to make our way inside, I had to shake my head again to clear it. I could be in any of the major cities on any of the major continents right now, all the centers were carbon copies of each other. Right down to the music. Even the nurses looked uncannily similar.

"Oh, looking-" Speaking of which, the nurse looked up at me before spotting Imp and darting her eyes to my hat.

Right, I'd forgotten to take it off again.

"For a room? Yes please." I finished her sentence.

She jolted back. "Right, one bed I take it?"

I nodded. "Any chance on room 109 being open?" The room on the back corner of the first floor had the most floorspace and with how big everyone in my team was getting I found it to be worth asking about.

She paused at my question and looked through a ledger in front of her. "It is. Would you like to pay now or in the morning?"

"Now, if it's all the same."

We exchanged information and money as needed and she handed me the keycard. When I got to the room and let everyone minus Minnow out, I skipped the step of collapsing on the bed and simply curled into Marble's side after she'd settled. For having flesh akin to granite, she made a wonderful pillow. Cindy lay down on one side of my and Imp on the other. Ironically, Sylph got the bed.

I fell asleep on the floor, not even remembering that was considered strange before darkness took me. Maybe I've been camping too much.

I was surprised when I woke up before the sun had risen. I had gotten all the way through changing and prepping for the day before I realized that Sootopolis probably only saw a few hours of direct sunlight a day.

Grateful to my abused circadian rhythm, I grabbed some breakfast before walking back out into Sootopolis proper. The sky was bright enough to indicate midmorning, but the perpetual shade had left the entire basin surprisingly chilly. In fact, I could make out a thin haze of mist drifting away from the water in the morning air. I tugged my hat down over my ears.

My hat, my hands lingered by my head and fingered the iconic fabric.

I left it where it was. Not sure what point I was proving or to whom I was proving it, but that didn't change my choice. I started looking around at the buildings before I could talk myself out of it.

It didn't take long to pin down the gym. The building was bigger than most and right on the water, I suspected parts of it were flooded to make the building more water type friendly. It was, after all, both Hoenn's water type gym and the highest rank gym in the region. If you wanted to find a stronger trainer you'd need to go to the League.

I started winding down to the waterfront building, finding myself in a dead end more than once despite the short distance. It was tempting to just hop on Sylph and glide down to it, but I was already tempting fate by being stubborn about my hat.

There were a few people around, mostly kids. I was able to avoid getting too close to most of them but I had to walk past a cluster and couldn't help but notice the surprise and awe mixed with confusion that followed their silence. I imagine that Imp drifting beside me did little to dissuade their suspicions. Everyone else in my team was now simply too big to fit on most human sized trails, Cindy could have _maybe_ but I had a schedule to keep and I didn't want to lose any time finding out I was wrong.

I got to the gym unhindered. It was hard to not feel suspicious.

Opening the doors greeted me with the sight of...

Okay, let me see if I can describe this. The whole building was a single enormous dome, and excusing the small circle of dry land was completely filled with water. It started shallow near the door and got steadily deeper further away until the bottom vanished from view entirely. There were a few trainers sparring in the water and a small group watching them, but I didn't see Juan anywhere.

 _Wait, he was helping deal with Chimney. I'm getting passed off to one of his trainers, I don't think Phoebe told me who._

Guessing from the shift in emotion, the group of observers had spotted me but the other two were too focused on their spar. I elected to sit down by the door until they were done and hoped my prospective trainer would recognize me.

It didn't take long. Sharpedo were both faster and sharper than wailmer, so the match wound up a bit one sided. The wailmer trainer recalled his teammate and started swimming to the door before spotting me. He opened his mouth and turned back to the group but got cut off before he could say anything.

"I see him, you smartmouth. How about you get poor Oscar healed up instead of making a nuisance of yourself?" An older woman called from her seat atop a tan fish with bright red fins that I didn't recognize.

The swimmer turned away but I could make out the grin even without empathy. It had the sound of a long running joke. He passed me heading out the door and gave me a short nod.

I responded in kind before turning back to the woman who'd spoken earlier.

"So you're Wallace, then?" She asked, drifting toward the circle of dry land. Something about the way her mount moved caught my attention, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"That's me. I take it you're the one I got fobbed off on?"

She chuckled. "Nobody like you gets tossed around like an extra chore in times like these. Everyone else of Juan's deputies got sent off to deal with Chimney except me. Someone's got to hold down the fort. Regardless, you need deep sea diver training, right?"

I nodded again. "And I only learned it existed less than a week ago, so I'm afraid my knowledge of the subject is minimal."

"It's easier to teach people who don't automatically think they know everything." She waved me off. "But before we can get you into the water you will actually need some equipment. You have a rebreather?"

"No, ma'am."

"Are outsiders always this polite? Please, just call me Annika. I picked up a spare when Juan called, left it in the office I think. It's the short little building right next door. Just tell the lady who you are and that I sent you; and don't you dare try to pay."

I blinked at that. "Are you sure? It wouldn't be any trouble. I know you probably had little say in deciding to-"

"Brat, what did I just say? Now get a move on, time's a precious thing." She cut me off and made shooing motions to the door.

It didn't sound like I was going to be able to convince her otherwise - and she had a point, besides - so I stood and made my way to the door. There were only a couple other buildings around the waterfront so it was pretty easy to pick out the one Annika was talking about.

It wasn't hard to guess why it had been dubbed 'the office'. The main structure had an older feel to it, like it had been there since the founding of Sootopolis. The office, on the other hand, had a more modern aesthetic. Probably built in response to developing League rules so the main gym could be left untouched.

The middle aged woman behind the desk looked up as I came in.

"Wallace?" She asked.

"Yes, Annika pointed me this way."

"Rebreather, I take it?"

I nodded.

"Figured. Word travels fast around here." She said, getting up and walking over to a wall covered in square cubbies. "Come on, where did I... Ah, here it is." Extracting a cardboard box roughly the size of my hand, she handed it to me. "No idea how it works, but all of Juan's swear by these things. Good luck."

A thanks and short walk later and I was back in the gym. Annika was already on the dry circle when I reentered.

"That was fast. Surprised she didn't lose it already. Go ahead and open her up." She gestured to the box in my hands.

I passed a fingernail through the tape and pulled the lid open. Laying in the middle an imprinted sheet of plastic was the rebreather. It was smaller than I'd expected, an almost featureless metal object about the size of my fist that looked just big enough to fit around my mouth. I picked it up and felt the straps folded behind it to hold it in place. Underneath it was a set of proper diving goggles.

"To be honest with you, I have no idea how these things work. They're supposed to keep working indefinitely, so you can stay under as long as you like. 'Course that only solves half of our little problem. Mind showing us who you brought with you?"

I smiled. "Not at all. Say hello, Minnow." I plucked his ball off of my belt and released him.

Points to Annika for keeping a straight face.

"Minnow? Really?"

Minus a few points then.

"He was a lot smaller when I first met him," I offered.

She rubbed her forehead and sighed before straightening up. "Just go and steal my thunder, why don't you?"

I was about to ask what she meant when she released her own companion.

Minnow was almost as surprised as I was when the enormous tan serpent materialized next to him. He was still the bigger one, but the difference was akin to heights between people instead of people and buildings or large vehicles.

"This is Gossamer."

I made a sound of indignation. "You're going to give me trouble for naming him Minnow before turning right around and naming her Gossamer?"

We stared at each other for a moment before we both started laughing.

"I got to the joke first, and don't you forget that. Now come on over here, I want to see just how good of a rider you are."

My grin stayed on my face even as I hopped on Minnow and followed her out into the water. I was even in a good enough mood to scan the enormous serpent for Birch. I'd never seen or even heard of anything like the tan fish, so I imagined he would be interested.

"Now then, let's see what you're made of." Annika called from twenty feet above me, balanced perfectly on Gossamer's head.

I decided to oblige her.

I was fairly certain she just wanted to make sure I was some dumb kid who'd gotten lucky by finding an especially competent magikarp.

"Well, at least now I know you're not just some dumb kid who got lucky and found an especially competent magikarp."

Call it a hunch.

"So does that mean we can get to the actual diver training now?"

"Sure does, though I need to stress that being good in a fight doesn't mean diving won't be dangerous to you."

I nodded. "I realize this might sound hard to believe coming from me, but I prefer to minimize danger if I can."

One eyebrow almost levitated into her hairline. "A little hard to believe, yes. Moving on. The dive itself is actually fairly simple, wouldn't work if it were too complex. Gossamer, would you be a dear?"

The milotic lowered her head into the water and left my instructor floating there. Then she raised her head again and ate her.

The motion was so nonchalant that I didn't even realize what was happening until Annika had vanished entirely. I made a strangled gurgling sound, Minnow gave a startled snort, and Imp's eyes went wide. The three of us just stayed there for a long moment before Gossamer dived down into the water and vanished from view. I tracked her movements with Imp's help and just about fell into the water when she shot up towards me.

Mouth open, she burst out of the water and...

Laughed?

Annika's laughing redoubled when she saw my face. She was lying in Gossamer's mouth, completely unharmed.

"Oh goodness, that never gets old!" She cackled to herself as I put the dots together.

' _... big enough water type.'_ Staying in its mouth would provide a buffer, apparently enough of a buffer to make the pressure gradients and temperatures at the bottom of the ocean survivable. It also explained the necessity of a rebreather.

Annika was still chortling when she hopped out of Gossamer's mouth.

"And that's all there is to it. Just make sure Minnow doesn't spit you out and swim away. There's also the difficulty of navigating, but Juan said you would have that well in hand."

I nodded absently at that. "Yeah, that part shouldn't be a problem. Guess I should just... give it a shot then?"

She made a sweeping gesture from the water. "The floor is yours. As is the last chance to back out. I know you trust Minnow, but this is no small step to take."

I shook my head. "I understand, but this needs to happen even if I'm not perfectly comfortable." I slid off of Minnow and swam in front of him.

He looked down at me and I looked back, the general sense of disbelief was mutual.

"Though if you _are_ pulling my leg, now would be a good time to let me know."

She shook with withheld laughter. "I'm afraid not; either you get real comfy with those chompers of his, or we need to start figuring out something else."

I nodded and turned back to my dragon. _How about you just join me down here and I climb in?_

' _Try to avoid my teeth.'_ Was his response as he lowered into the water and opened his mouth. I strapped on the goggles and rebreather and gave a few experimental breaths before diving after him.

And goodness were there a lot of teeth to avoid. His gaze could be intimidating on its own, but that was before he opened his mouth.

I shouldered past my discomfort and swam forward. It was fairly obvious this wasn't a place where anything was meant to stay long-term, but the nook between the lower jaw and tongue looked promising. I guided myself into place with a shared sense of touch before Minnow closed his mouth.

It was dark, wet, and more than a bit slimy. I wedged further into my nook and tried to zoom out with my senses.

Minnow took a moment to make sure I was done moving before swimming forward gently. When I sent a feeling of affirmation he swam a little more normally. He defaulted to keeping his mouth closed when he swam, thankfully - more hydrodynamic and unnecessary beside since he got oxygen from the membranous folds of skin under his plates. So aside from the feeling of me wedged into his mouth, it was no stranger than my typical Tuesday.

I was still glad for the training. I would not want to actually try diving like this without an instructor who knew what they were doing, assuming I even conceived of the idea in the first place. After a bit of splashing around Annika called to us.

"Alright then you show off, come on over. Training's not quite done yet."

Minnow swam over and unceremoniously spat me into the water in front of her.

I pulled off the rebreather. "I'm sure that's exactly what she meant Minnow." I snarked.

Annika made no attempts to hide her amusement. "Seemed like a reasonable response to me. Anyway, you still have one more thing to do before I can turn you loose on hapless fish everywhere."

"What would you have from me, oh keeper of the secrets of the deep?"

She smiled shortly before sobering. "Meet me at the bottom of the lake."

Before I could ask anything she dived into the water, shortly followed by Gossamer. I was left floundering for a moment before one of the other trainers at the gym swam out to me.

"Since I doubt she told you, there's an underwater exit somewhere over there." She gestured to the far wall of the dome.

"That makes more sense than her skulking at the bottom. Thanks." I nodded before donning my gear again and diving back into the water.

Once I was tucked back in Minnow's mouth, he swam over to the wall we'd been pointed to. The hole was actually pretty easy to pick out, just a circle that looked almost organically removed from the wall. The wall itself was also surprisingly thin, maybe ten inches thick. Just a bit too far down to be easily seen from the surface. Even so it was a big enough opening for Minnow to easily navigate his way through.

We were far enough down in the water that the surface above us was a little hard to make out. Just the white wall of the gym behind us, sunbeams filtering down, and water all around us.

Minnow didn't find it strange, so he started diving while I marveled at the sight. We stayed near the wall of the lake, following the barely curving surface as the water grew darker and colder. It kept going until the curve was almost flat, but I was needing to mentally reevaluate the size of Sootopolis Lake. I couldn't make out any sunlight through Minnow's eyes, just barely enough glow to navigate by.

Then there was the cave, if it could even be called that. More of a pit really, big enough for Minnow to feel small. I found myself comparing the size to Groudon. It was about the right size for a passage it would use.

There was the faintest hint of light coming from inside. We swam into it.

Some time passed. The light grew brighter and brighter without ever managing to seem harsh. Then the cave widened out and the light became sharp enough to identify shapes.

It... The best way I can describe it is like standing inside an opal with all the little colors still moving around. Even so it wasn't as much of a distinct room as it was a whole _place_ in and of itself. I could roughly identify where the floor was, but the swirling color of the room made me think that if I picked a direction and started walking I could keep going as long as I wanted. The only break in the strangely soothing tempest of colors was the dark hole in the roof that marked the way I'd come in. The color wasn't completely chaotic either. I could make out what looked like a chromatic whirlpool flowing in reverse, stemming from the very center where Annika was standing.

It's worth noting that she was simply standing on the floor, utterly dry and not making any movements that would indicate she was swimming. Gossamer was swimming around as though the chamber was filled with water like I thought it was.

"You're here, good. You can come out. The air down here's perfect for breathing so you don't need to worry."

I didn't even know how to respond, Minnow was still swimming and I couldn't feel anything off through him. Minnow made the decision for me and opened his mouth, I clambered out with the strangely warm water still around me. Not having any idea what to do in this utterly alien situation, I looked to the woman standing beneath me.

She was smiling a little and beckoned me down. "Try taking a breath." She ordered once I was floating next to her.

I pulled off my rebreather and had barely started to inhale when something changed. The air passed my lips and I suddenly fell the rest of the way to the ground. My goggles felt similarly strange so I pulled them off as well and got a good look at the... cave? Plane? Whatever this place was.

It was the singularly most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I realized I had let the rest of my team out, I couldn't deprive them of something like this.

"What is this place?" I asked, dumbstruck.

"Sootopolis' biggest and most precious secret. The only people who know about this place are Juan, the League Champion, The Crone of Pyre, and myself. You're the fifth person alive to be trusted with this

"This is the Cave of Origin. I could bore you with its history, but I think it would do a better job than I ever would." She moved from her spot and tapped the ground with her foot, showing what she'd been standing over.

A picture of the most singularly regal pokémon I have ever seen lay in the center of the chamber. With what looked like a black visor surrounding white... skin? The yellow accents highlighted the brow and strangely pointed feet of the quadruped. The image shifted slightly with the ever rippling colors that suffused the walls of the chamber, it almost looked alive.

 _Arceus_

Now that my eyes had been drawn to the floor, I started noticing details of the color branching out from it. The white was impossible to describe, and for once I actually mean that. There's honestly just a blank space in my memory where I tried to examine the color and all I can remember was that it was white. Out from that, blue and pink made semicircles around The Source, forming pictures of enormous crystalline beasts with perfectly organized flows. After that there was a ring of black, the only black I could see in the cavern, which had the distinct effect of altering the flows so the rest of the room was barely organized chaos. In the ring after that one, I found the first one I recognized. Green, blue, and red dominated. Each respectively forming a serpent, a whale, and the beast I knew as Groudon. Further out the colors bloomed and branched more chaotically, most eye catching was a swath of pale pink that rapidly started changing shades and forming smaller images until it all dissolved into the sea of shifting hues that rapidly took up all of the remaining space.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Annika asked, jolting me from my reverie. "A record since before time itself." She tapped the blue portion of the first ring. "But there's more to this than some vague symbolism, the record's still being written. You can see it most easily if you follow this one out to the edge."

She pointed the tip of her foot at the edge of Groudon's ring, a thin tracery of red led away from it. It was small but difficult to miss, being easy to discern among the more diluted colors.

I followed the tendril of red as it continued flowing out with little effect on neighboring flows of color. Distance was hard to measure here, but my best guess was about two hundred feet away from the center something changed, the tendrils of color started bunching and angling in what almost looked like an artificial pattern. Some colors blooming out and diversifying while others vanished entirely.

"What happened?" I asked Annika, who'd been following a little behind me.

"We did, I reckon. Humanity has a way of structuring things when we get going. Not everything, mind you. Just what we can comprehend and control."

She was right. The tendril of red kept its chaotic waving even as it passed through chorded bundles of color. The rigid lines also made it easier to spot the blue and green doing the same thing, winding closer to each other all the while. But just when they were about to touch, the colors all dissolved into undefined chaos. The distance between the order and the chaos was barely two feet.

"Whatever's about to happen, it'll happen soon. The most important detail I can bring from this is that it's going to involve all three of them."

I had been suspending disbelief for a couple minutes now, but after a second of processing her words reality started creeping back in.

"So Aqua's going to wake up Kyogre?"

"Maybe. Probably. It's not written just yet, so maybe we can still pull off a close call.

"And by 'we' I mean 'you'."

I felt a bitter smile on my face. "Great, so no pressure then."

"As much as I would like to sarcastically join you, the only reason most of Hoenn isn't buried under molten rock right now is because damn near every trained water and ground type on this end of the planet is working to slow Chimney down. Speaking of which," she dug around in a pocket before pulling out a small card. "Here's your diver certification. We skipped the paper test, but I kind of doubt anyone will kick up a fuss.."

I nodded and took the card. It looked more technical than I would have guessed, the sort of regularity usually seen in official documents. I had a suspicion that it had been printed before I'd even arrived.

"Once we get back topside you should head to the office. We've been working on putting together the most likely places for Kyogre's den, she said she'd be able to upload it to one of those fancy devices of yours."

I took one last look around the cave, just trying to soak in the tempest of color.

Then it was time to get back to work.

Even two days later, I could still feel a little bit of the warmth from that place. Less like standing next to a fire than staying under a blanket. My own warmth reflected on myself in a way I had trouble finding words for.

I feel the need to emphasize this because I was currently the coldest I had ever been. Minnow's eyes strained to make out shapes in the utter darkness, moving slow all the while. This was the fourth point we'd checked since we'd started our campaign. I'd even fallen asleep in his mouth once, in the gaps between waypoints it was easier to stay in his mouth than make the cumbersome transition.

Even in the dark chill of the ocean's depths I managed to feel irritated. I'd gone to the trouble of getting diver training because it would mean I could _do_ something, but that didn't mean I actually had a good chance of getting anything done.

That I was also the _only_ chance wasn't very helpful either.

Minnow continued forward, diligently scanning the valley walls for a cave that might be big enough to house the maker of the ocean. The only consolation was that Aqua had to go through the exact same process at a much slower pace.

There was hope yet.

I helped point Minnow to better search yet another canyon wall when the currents started doing something weird. The best way I can describe it was 'frenetic'. In the deep cold of the ocean the currents usually did little more than behave like a glacial wind, slowly but surely moving the net sum of the lower half of the ocean to wherever it went. Here it was fitful enough it almost felt like the surface. Dozens of tiny puffs of force in a myriad of disorganized energy.

We stopped and looked more thoroughly. Minnow noticed it first, the smell of very old dust being disturbed. Both of our heart rates climbed. I defaulted to letting him follow his nose. His instincts were better suited to the task than mine.

The trail went for quite the distance Minnow's assessment put it at a little under a day old. Eventually the cloud of suspended dust became visible as a vague haze, prompting Minnow to close his inner eyelids in response and quicken his pace.

Even if we didn't find the den, all we needed was to stop Aqua. The Cave of Origin had implied a close call though. I doubted we were very far off.

I hate it when I'm right.

The cloud led into a hole that honestly looked like it led to the end of the world. I could vaguely make out the curve of the rim, but the bottom vanished into darkness.

We dove deeper with barely a thought, the currents getting more agitated all the while.

The enormous tunnel-hole-burrow thing began narrowing and twisting erratically in a pattern that made little sense before angling back up sharply into the last thing I would have expected to see.

Air. And parked right up against that surface was the very same submarine that belonged to Captain Stern.

We'd found them. I shifted my body in my excitement as Minnow lurched forward, abandoning his previous sedate pace. We breached the surface and Minnow spat me onto the floor, I focused through his senses as he scanned the room.

A single grunt, expressing more surprise than I'd ever felt from any single person. Then his eyes found me as I picked myself off of the floor and the surprise fragmented into the chaos of confusion and fear.

Not quite enough of either though.

"Code White!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, the sound carrying sharply in the confines of the cave. Minnow gunned forward and pumped a surge of water at the ganger but the damage was done.

I released my team and mounted Minnow, pulling my rebreather and goggles off. There wouldn't be any doors down here to slow me down, and now we had all the reason in the world to rush while we still had the advantage of surprise.

But even as we started forward I could hear a group of people yelling orders and bunching together where the tunnel started to narrow. Credit where it was due, they reacted fast.

It wouldn't help them, I hadn't chased them to the bottom of the ocean to lose now. An ache in my collarbone spurred us forward.

I came into sight of the group, what I would guess to be half of the crew all had their pokémon out and had formed a barricade of sorts. I could fight my way through them but that could take more time than I had to give.

So I bluffed.

"Minnow, Hyper Beam!" _Don't actually, try to fake it._

He reared his head back with a drawn out inhalation as the group immediately fragmented, fear and panic stabbing through it as a path opened up. We took it without a second thought.

Moving as fast as we were it didn't take long for us to outstrip the group. The cave wound and coiled through the same erratic twists it had through the upper portion, even dipping back down into flooded tunnels with currents too active and chaotic to make any sense at all.

We were getting closer. The ache was twinging intermittently. The same anger that felt more like a part of the environment than any single being was simmering from the water.

The tunnel dove almost sharply before leveling out into an enormous cavern. The burrow had reached its end.

Archie stood at the edge of a pool of churning water, the other half of the crew stood around him in a protective semicircle. The vast shape of what could only be Kyogre shifted intermittently in the water in front of him.

The leader of Team Aqua turned to face me.

(Archie)

"To be honest, I thought we'd shaken you back at the hideout. Never thought you'd actually chase us all the way to the bottom of the ocean."

"You didn't leave me much choice."

We stared at each other for a minute, my guards shuffling nervously. I couldn't really blame them. His gyarados hadn't gotten any smaller since he'd broken the base singlehandedly.

"It's a bit weird. I was completely ready to fight my way through this cave tooth and nail when I got here. But I just realized something. You honestly think what you're doing is going to help, because if you had even the faintest idea of what unleashing Kyogre would do, you never would have dared to set foot here."

I felt a bit of anger rise up at his words. This was my life's ambition he was sneering at and we were _so close._

" _I'm_ the one that doesn't understand? All life comes to and from the ocean-"

"So don't you think screwing with it might be a _bad_ idea?" He hissed at me. "You are not on the side of good against some land-based concept of evil. You're the other side of the coin. You saw what Groudon was doing? Throwing Kyogre into that isn't going to make things better, you're just going to endanger the _other_ half of Hoenn's population."

The anger was joined by regret, this child was the strongest trainer I had ever personally crossed but that didn't change what he was. "You're no fool White Hat, but you're still just a kid. Maybe when you've seen a little more of the world you'll understand that some things truly need to change." He was good, but anyone from the League would have smelled the trap from a mile off.

"Wallace."

"Pardon?"

"My name is Wallace, not White Hat." He said in a tone I couldn't parse, rubbing the left side of his collar.

There was another silence, the leviathan continued its fitful slumber. We just needed to get him a little closer. We'd intercepted communications between the Crone and her granddaughter to make sure he kept the orbs. We knew he would stop at nothing to chase us. We needed the orb to wake Kyogre. _We're so close._

"I wish you'd taken my offer back in Meteor Falls, would have made things easier for both of us." I made a show of turning back to the pool where my dream slept.

"Archie, I can't afford half measures right now and I can't let you wake Kyogre. Please don't make me kill you."

There was no hesitation in his words, no masked doubt. He truly believed that he could kill me if he needed to.

He probably could. He probably _would_.

"Guess that's it then." I didn't give him time to respond, releasing Sirius and Polly. "You know what to do!" I shouted to everyone.

And they better, if they screwed this up now-

I had no time for angry thoughts before he was on top of us. But the relentless drilling I'd put them through payed off.

The fliers circled around the sea serpent's head to confuse it while the dark types mobbed that damn gardevoir of his. Unfortunately his Lairon had finally reached maturity and was presenting a much larger problem as an Aggron than we'd planned for. The camerupt and crobat were hounding the rest, which was fine.

We only had one shot, but we only needed one.

"Sirius, Tackle!" I shouted away from the kid so it wouldn't grab his attention. Sirius knew what I meant, just like he always did.

His dark furred form sprinted around the dragon and barely a moment later he full body slammed into its rider, sending him teetering over its side. He recovered quickly, but not quite fast enough to evade Polly. She dragged him towards me and almost made it to the pool before he pulled free.

Still nothing had happened. Maybe its thrashing had grown more frantic but it wasn't eno-

Red.

-ugh. The thought hadn't even formed when the whole chamber was suddenly blanketed in red light. Most of it came from the orb shining from the backpack, glowing through the fabric like it wasn't even there.

But the kid's face - Wallace - wasn't angry like I'd expected it to be.

I had never seen that much bare horror before, even as one of his hands vainly clutched at his bag. Something about that felt off for some reason.

"You goddamn fool."

That was all he had time to say before the ancient circuitry on the most noble force of creation flashed to life with a perfect red glow. The leviathan swirled in place before rushing out of the water with speed that belied its size. Then its mouth opened and it started to inhale.

My only hint for what was about to happen came again from Wallace. He yanked a radio out of his ear, recalled his team _from the middle of a fight_ , and clapped his hands over his ears.

I was too slow to do the same. The sound, whale song so deep and loud I felt it hammering in the chambers of my lungs and heart, hit like a wall of force. I caught glimpses of my trainers crumpling into fetal positions around me as I fell to my knees.

The leviathan drew itself back again before its circuitry flared and an impossible amount of water flew from its mouth. There was barely a moment to think before the whole cavern was flooded. I fumbled for a minute, clutching around my belt before I found my rebreather.

Being able to hold my breath for the better part of ten minutes did not mean I would be able to make it back to the sub if Kyogre hung around. On that note, I recalled my team from where they were thrashing around in the water.

A bit of distress was more than worth it. The world would finally be right.

(Wallace)

I mentally listed every expletive I knew and made up a few new ones while I was at it.

After I'd seen the grunts recall their pokémon and take out their own rebreathers I'd let Minnow back out and started racing back to the next nearest air bubble. It was a bit frustrating to discover the entire cave had been completely flooded while Kyogre made its exit.

So I was given ample time to think about how badly I'd screwed up as we swam for the surface without a place to teleport from.

I'd _felt_ him planning something, but his thoughts had been too quick and subtle for me to quite figure it out. But even if I'd missed that the angry twinging from my collarbone should have tipped me off.

Even if it hadn't stopped yet.

When we finally breached the surface it was in the middle of the angriest tempest I had ever seen. I wouldn't have been surprised if Minnow had just kept going _up_ , there was enough water for it.

I recalled Minnow and let Imp out, ignoring the deluge as I tread water waiting for Imp to recover.

' _We need to get back to the League.'_

A quick twist of space later and we were dripping large volumes of saline onto the immaculate floor of the Hoenn League.

I shook the water from my eyes before looking around the room. I wasn't sure how much traffic the physical building of the League actually got, but this was the second time that the only person in the lobby was the nurse.

Said nurse barely glanced at me before looking back to the screen hovering over her station. I couldn't really blame her once I saw what it was showing.

"-as inexplicably moved away from Mt. Chimney and is burning a path directly toward the hurricane that suddenly formed a few minutes ago. Likewise, the hurricane itself is moving to meet it. At current rates of travel, we expect the two to meet somewhere around Mt. Pyre or the Vaccinium Peninsula sometime tomorrow morning. If you are currently anywhere in the area or in the way of either anomaly we urge you to evacuate as quickly as you can."

I stopped listening and pulled out my nav, dialing Phoebe as I approached the nurse.

"I need healing." I said before the line connected, pulling my team from my belt. The nurse nodded and started moving them to the tray right as the Ghost specialist picked up.

"Wallace! What-"

"Kyogre's awake. I-" I really didn't want to say it. "I screwed up. I kept the orbs like you told me to, but I got too close to Kyogre while I was trying to stop Archie."

She made an inarticulate sound of frustration. "Dammit all, I only told you that because I thought Grandma wanted you to but Aqua was screwing with our communications, they _planned_ this."

 _Oh._ That was informative. I felt a little better too since it wasn't exclusively _my_ fault.

Still didn't help the situation.

"We need to plan. Who should I grab and where should we meet?"

"I don't know! Everyone who was trying to slow Groudon down is scrambling since he just up and left Chimney. We were barely keeping it from leveling the continent on his own I have no idea what to do now that there's two of them!" Her voice was edging into panic.

 _Slow down and think. What is the problem?_

 _Groudon and Kyogre are awake and thus causing an unacceptable amount of destruction._

 _Can I stop it?_

 _Unlikely, either on their own was a match for the combined forces of the League._

 _Can all of us stop it?_

 _Possible, but we don't understand these beings. Attacking them might only make things worse._

 _What can stop it?_

 _I don't know._

 _Has anything previously stopped it._

 _I don't-_

 _..._

 _This is either the best or worst idea I've ever had. We're out of options and out of time to open better ones._

"Phoebe, you still there?"

"Yeah, you sound like you've had an idea. What is it?"

"I think... we need to wake up Rayquaza."


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Welp, here it is. This is the last planned chapter but keep an eye out for an epilogue, though it might be more than two weeks before I get it done. We'll see.

Chapter 17: Noble Hypocrisy

Phoebe was quiet for a long moment.

"Wallace, if we're wrong..."

"I know, whatever the next worse stage of frying pan to fire is. But we can't do this on our own. The whole League was barely containing Groudon. We need a heavy hitter on the field. An _actual_ heavy hitter." I tried to ignore that I was saying that to one of the Elite Four.

"How are we supposed to make sure it ends up on _our_ side? This won't be like the safari and we don't have an orb or anything to try influencing it."

"I could try." The words left my mouth before I had really considered them. "I mean, I'm not sure if Wattson told you this but I never explicitly _caught_ anyone on my team, and with my Bond to Imp..."

There was a possibility, but hinging the fate of an entire region on a 'maybe' that big? On _me_?

"Shit, I don't know. This is above even my paygrade. Hold on, let me see if I can get you to Wallace. Er, Champion Wallace that is."

 _Congratulations, me! You've officially managed to scare one of the Elite Four bad enough that they pass the baton to a superior._

 _Shut up brain, this is important._

I waited tensely, my thoughts providing ample detail to the images of what might be happening while I was tapping my feet.

"Wallace speaking. Phoebe's told me a bit about you. She said you might have a plan?" He asked in a crisp, professional voice.

"Yes, sir. I was just thinking that waking Rayquaza might help. The legends say it calmed them in the past, and-" I suddenly remembered that I was speaking to one of the very few people who knew about the Cave of Origin. "In the cave, all three of their currents were running very close, not just Groudon and Kyogre."

There was a moment of silence when I worried that I'd misspoken.

"Go. We'll buy you as much time as we can. You know where it sleeps?"

I paused at that. Groudon had slept in a volcano, Kyogre at the bottom of the ocean, so the dragon of the sky would live...

"At Sky Pillar." Literally the only place in a five hundred miles more dangerous than Victory Road.

"Move quickly, and good luck." The line closed a second later.

The tray had finished so I grabbed my team and let Imp back out.

"Time to get back to work."

We ported to the outside of Sootopolis and what limited progress I'd made towards drying myself was instantly undone. I splashed into the water and floundered in the screaming winds for a second before I could recall Imp.

 _I know you can fly, but you're going to need your strength._

That in mind, I let Minnow alone out before nudging him into the storm.

And what a gale it was. I needed to put my goggles on before I could even make out my nav. Given the estimate and our mode of travel, it was going to be hours before we got to Sky Pillar. Riding Sylph wouldn't be any better, maybe worse with the winds.

So we rode. Sometimes on the water, sometimes through it, but we kept moving forward just as fast as we could manage. I felt a part of myself shut down, almost like falling asleep as we plunged through another storm swell. Resting in the middle of a hurricane because it was only going to get worse.

I was almost surprised when the base of the spire came into view. I'd half expected it to be gone or broken or something else would slow us down. That wasn't to say navigating the rocks around it was easy - on the contrary, it was the most hostile aquatic environment I'd been in. Every current diverged from the tower, constantly dragging Minnow towards the jagged rocks that surrounded it.

We got to the base of the tower with only one collision, and Minnow was more than tough enough to shrug it off. We circled the structure before coming to an archway that dipped into the water. It didn't look like it was intended to, but with how high the water was we could swim right in.

The room was... intricate. Every surface was lined with images, tiles, ancient writing. Mosaics of stained glass and filigree that was almost Baroque in design. It was so visually loud that I had a hard time picking out the stairs.

I shook my head and swam to them anyway. Then I released Imp and projected my empathy as far up as I could manage.

Chimney Desert had put me on edge because there were always two or three buried baltoys within range, giving the whole desert the feel of a literal minefield.

This? It almost felt like staring down the barrel of a very big cannon and hearing the fuse hiss down. Focusing a little harder made me spot the layers. The claydol were bunching up on the floors that marked levels as far up as I could sense. Individually none of them were as powerful as Matryoshka, but there were _many_ more of them.

My eyes traced back to the writing on the walls, I couldn't tell what it meant, but the way it was formatted made me think of a list. It felt important.

This wasn't my last chance to back out, as long as Imp avoided total exhaustion we could teleport to a pokécenter and get everyone healed before teleporting back to where we'd left off. That said, things that happened in a fight happened _fast._ If she got knocked out or seriously hurt it would be a bit of a haul to Pacifidlog even if everyone else on my team was still capable of the trip.

This had the potential to get _really_ bad.

Here's to hoping it didn't. I released the rest of my team and started upwards.

The comparison to Victory Road became more apt the longer I thought about it, if for no other reason than that they were the only two locales where the entire ecosystem was out for my blood.

About every thirty feet up the tower levelled off into a floor I needed to cross since the stairs always ended on one side of the room and started on the other.

I don't know which ancient architect decided that _every freaking floor_ needed to be some test of character or ability, but it's small wonder they even managed to build the place at all.

The trick to this was that every floor had at least a dozen pokémon, every single one of which apparently had the indefatigable ambition of _trying to kill me so hard I died to death._ I wasn't weak by any standard, but most of the claydols could pull off a modest Hyper Beam.

We'd made it about eleven floors up and had Arceus knows how many more to go when I had everyone stop.

 _This isn't working. We're going to be mincemeat by the time we make it halfway. The storm's still going outside so flying isn't an option. Rushing is just going to get us there in even more pieces, but there's no time left to take._

 _Think, how would I do this if I couldn't win_ any _of these fights?_

Quick and quiet. Not something I'd had to resort to since Minnow had evolved. So, like a million years ago.

 _Alright guys, we're going to try changing things up a little. Minnow, Cindy, Marble, you're going to have to lay low for now._ I thought apologetically, recalling the three largest members of my team. _Imp, I want you to try that hypnosis thing you picked up in the cave; just try to range it over the room more than any one of them. Sylph, use Confusion Ray on anyone who gets through it. You guys got the plan?_

Imp nodded and Sylph chirped quietly.

 _Let's go._

(Wallace)

Eight hours. That was both how long it had been since Phoebe's associate had called with his plan and how long it had taken Groudon and Kyogre to meet.

What should have been a calm morning on the Vaccinium Peninsula was instead the worst storm Hoenn had seen in since its colonization.

I'd done what I could to slow down the heart of the ocean. Dominus had matched it for size while Yin and Yang had matched it for power. We made the mistake of being a big enough problem to warrant personal attention.

I wasn't going to send my team against them again without a very good plan, Yin was _still_ short a tailfin. Or at least that's what I would like to say, but something needed to be done and the only real plan being carried out at the moment involved a prodigy I'd never met trying to get to the top of Sky Pillar and convince Rayquaza to help.

The absurdity of those words was not lost on me. If every report I'd heard about him were true then _maybe_ it was worth a shot, but even then...

I kept watching from miles away, just barely making out the titanic clash. Red and Gold were trying to wear them down without drawing too much heat, but if it was working in any meaningful capacity I couldn't tell. The whole sky was studded with the multicolored glowing lights of the few powerful enough to help and the single brave, priority-confused news helicopter.

We were even starting to draw the attention from the other ancients. Latios and Latias were doing an admirable job of containing the destruction, there was even still a little forest left between the two colossi. The unmistakable pink of Mew could barely be made out between the giants, but so far it hadn't been seen contributing. Mewtwo had come with Red at his request and was helping network the containment efforts, but the storm was only getting bigger...

A roar and flare of light brought my focus back to the battle.

' _Red's been hit and needs to tag out. Are you able to fight?'_ Mewtwo's voice echoed through my head.

 _Yes. Tell them I'm on my way._ I responded, patting one of Kraken's orbs. "Our turn again."

(Wallace)

It hadn't worked perfectly, but we only had to fight every dozen floors or so instead of _every_ floor. I can't give you a more exact number because I'd lost count at around floor a hundred and ten. I'd started flagging about a quarter mile down. For the first time in my life I'd run so hard my legs had actually given out beneath me.

At the moment I was in the somewhat frustrating process of waiting for my body to catch up while the world beneath me burned. I'd already tried riding Sylph and discovered that I was just a little too heavy to fly indoors with.

 _If only there were some established way to carry large and/or low mobility beings without much hassle!_ I snarked at myself.

 _Yeah yeah, very fun-..._

I stopped. Imp gave me the slightly worried look she usually did when I started thinking hard. Her worry only grew more pronounced when I started removing my gear at an almost frantic rate.

"Nav, yes. Belt and exp. share, yes. Pokédex, no. Scanner... no. Medicine, yes. Heck just leave the backpack."

' _What are you doing?'_

 _I'm fairly certain I'm the main reason we keep getting attacked, being the human and all. So the most sensible thing I can think of is to remove the human from the equation._

I held up a single pokéball and grinned. If I trusted my team with these things then I would trust myself to one, and with the clearance Birch had given me over the devices I could probably find a way to override the human safety.

 _You're about the same shape as me so my gear should fit you, and if you get attacked anyway then you can just let me back out._

I could tell she was unsure but lacked a counter argument. The sheer insanity of what I was suggesting didn't escape my notice. If I was to be perfectly honest I didn't want to put this on her, but...

Needs before wants and all that..

 _Tell you what. If you get attacked, then teleport down a couple of floors and let me out so I can try dealing with it. If you don't, then just let me out when you get tired or make it to the top. Sound good?_

(Imp)

The question lingered, weighing two things I considered very important. One side said yes. It would keep the precious human safer than I could. The other said no. He had been the only constant that had lasted the whole time since I'd felt his elation in the forest and this would hide him.

His discomfort rose in response to mine and mine to his. Feedback. It was not helpful to either of us.

 _Alright._ I eventually admitted to stop worrying him.

He sprang into motion, and explained what was necessary. We didn't have time for the fine details, so he only explained outermost functions, of which I only really focused on one.

' _Press the button once to expand it. Again to release whoever's inside.'_

Once he was certain I understood enough he helped me carry his gear. It took very little thought to make sure nothing was dropped, everything held itself in place.

It was heavier than I expected.

' _I'm going to pull myself in now. If anything happens that you don't think you can handle, feel free to pass the baton.'_

He pressed the button on the device and was pulled in a second later. For the first time since he'd been hurt on top of the burning mountain, the link went quiet.

I could also sense the stone-minds around us begin to calm in the void of human thoughts. Bat-friend and I felt nervous, but his words had been true. We could likely travel to the top of this sacred place without disturbance now.

We moved quickly, he would be in danger if I released him here but once we were outside he could wake up again.

The stone minds drifted out of our way, a gesture of politeness. The gem-ghosts did not approach, only watching curiously from inside the walls. The doll-ghosts giggled at my passing.

By the time we got outside on the top, my heartpiece ached from moving so much and bat-friend's wings were sore.

I immediately let him out. I would never admit the relief of feeling his mind awake again, I had a reputation to keep.

(Wallace)

"Now there's a peculiar sensation." It had been like falling asleep yet somehow maintaining control of my senses, taking backseat to myself. Lucid dreaming maybe, without the control that implied.

I shook my head and looked around. Imp felt like she'd been worried but it didn't feel like she'd been attacked. Sylph was resting his wings and radiated the discomfort of too much exertion. There-

Oh goodness. A distant sense of caution brought my eyes up to the veritable cloud of altarias. They were circling the top of what I could only describe as a needle, glancing down at us with mixed curiosity and caution.

At least it wasn't the focused anger of the floors below.

 _You guys want to stay out or hitch a ride?_ Imp had an ache in her heartpiece I'd only witnessed prior after long days of flying over the ocean. Sylph similarly felt like he'd flown through the typhoon below anyway.

They both opted to stay out. It wasn't that much further anyway.

I walked toward the needle that speared out of the center of the tower's roof with the wind whipping around us. There were steeply spiraling stairs that wound all the way up to the top. Unlike the colorful inscriptions and long forgotten rights that had lined the walls of the main pillar, there was only a single line of writing that spiraled upwards with the steps.

 _Bet some future archaeologist is going to translate it to something like 'hey dumbass there's an easily angered god up there, maybe don't?'_

I snorted but kept climbing.

That's all it took from there. Some climbing and I was all but on top of the world. Behind me a cliff waited that dropped more than a mile straight down. In front of me slept the fourth child of Arceus.

Now I just needed to wake it up so _it_ could deal with numbers five and six.

The altaria had sensed that I was going to do something, or maybe just acted out of simple common sense and were all circling much further away.

With Imp's help I reached forward for its mind, trying to get a better idea of what I was doing.

The best comparison I can think of is a spectrum. Groudon and Kyogre sat next to each other way at one end and pretty much everything else in the world sat on the other end. Rayquaza sat square in the middle. It's mind hadn't delocalized into the environment, but it wasn't quite as concentrated as most non-psychics seemed to be.

It was like its whole body was a little bit like a brain rather than a single organ that filled out the necessary functions. What this meant to me was that there was no single place to poke to grab its attention.

Tentatively, I poked a few places anyway.

It just sat there, coiled into perfectly ordered lengths of green with only the same strange circuitry and a few fins breaking the smooth surface.

I decided to scan it while I was juggling ideas. If Birch ever asked me for anything else ever again I would be within my rights to take it out of his hide. With the understanding that I got back alive of course.

 _Phoebe said the orbs were made for the other two, but they were made_ by _Rayquaza. So maybe...?_

I rifled through my bag and extracted the crystalline objects, then I stood there feeling like a fool.

 _Like I'm trying to find out which remote to use when the wrong button spells the end of the world. What if-_

I clinked the two objects together as I shifted and suddenly everything started to happen. The clink droned on into a sound deeper than ringing glass, the orbs vibrating harder and harder in my hands as they resonated with one another. In my panic, I had a hundred ideas and failed to carry out any of them. Just as I was ready to drop the things to shield what was left of my ears, they froze.

It was suddenly very quiet. Not just the lack of sound from the orbs, I hadn't heard silence like this since Meteor Falls. Like the whole world had stopped while Rayquaza uncoiled in front of me.

The plates that made up most of most of its surface had an almost metallic look despite their obvious flexibility, broken by dark lines that were starting to glow with a faint yellow light. The strangest thing I noticed was at its head, at first I thought its gums were somehow hiding its teeth but its mouth opened incrementally and I saw it didn't _have any._ Speaking of its head, it's eyes looked like they were open, but only an expanse of black looked back out. If I was reading it right it wasn't fully awake yet.

So I stood there like an idiot and watched it move in the perfect silence, uncoiling and stretching to its full height. Altogether it didn't look much bigger than Minnow.

Something told me it wouldn't be much of a question who would win the fight though.

As if issuing a challenge by vaguely thinking those words, the yellow light flared into sharp lines. Its eyes were still mostly black with only a single hard ring of yellow light serving as an iris, and feeling it staring down at me suddenly reminded me of how very frail my human body was.

We stared at each other for a long moment before it turned towards what I presumed to be Groudon and Kyogre. I briefly hoped that it would simply fly off and do its primordial duty before it looked back to me.

No, at the orbs I was holding.

You know that feeling you get when you walk past a cop and you suddenly feel like you've committed a crime? Imagine that, except the cop is a dragon.

 _Okay, this looks really bad so maybe doing something_ now _would be good._

"Groudon and Kyogre have woken up. We need your-"

The motion was too fast. Just a scream of sound and a brief realization that it was moving before it was all but on top of me. My perception sped up just enough for me to jerk to the side and keep its claws from wrapping around me and got a deep scratch on my right side for it.

I released my team out of reflex, something which I almost instantly recognized as the terrible idea it was. Rayquaza had been feeling something I now recognized to be probing suspicion, because it had been replaced with the kind of righteous fury only dragons are really capable of.

"I'm not here to fight! I just-"

It soared straight into the sky at an impossible speed before turning around and diving for me.

 _Marble, Protect!_

She slammed her feet down and the barrier sprang up a just before Rayquaza would have landed on me. Even so the impact made the shimmering green surface bow inward before repelling the attack.

 _We need to get it to calm down._

 _Sylph, Confusion Ray. Imp, Hypnosis. Focus on not getting hit. Minnow, Dragon Dance._

I pressed a hand to my aching side as they moved into action. Hopefully Minnow wouldn't need to get involved but if he did he would need to be at the top of his game. Sylph slowed his wing beats for a moment before opening his mouth and releasing the attack with a sound not unlike a howl. Imp was radiating the - well, hypnotizing - waves in controlled ripples.

Sylph's attack hit first, briefly confusing the enormous serpent long enough for Imp's to follow up. For the space of a moment it looked like it would work.

Then everything went wrong.

Maybe it was that its mind just worked so much differently. Maybe it was simply beyond such mundane weaknesses. Whatever the case was, it abruptly threw off the effects and was somehow even angrier than before.

It blitzed forward and snached Slyph out of the air in one of its claws before slamming him into the pillar hard enough to make it shake.

"Sylph!" _Sylph!_

He didn't respond. I recalled him and tried to ignore the suddenly hollow feeling in my stomach.

It had started after Imp while I'd been distracted but she'd evaded by continuously blinking out of the way before it got to her. Growing frustrated, the dragon turned to the rest of my team.

Minnow was ramped up as far as he could go, tiny rivulets of dark lightning flickered over his scales and he had a look in his eye that even made Rayquaza pause.

Then, a sound not unlike tinnitus. Light started gathering in the serpent's mouth.

 _Marble could barely hold off the dive, there's no way she could block something like this._

 _Nothing to do but fight fire with fire._

"Minnow, Hyper Beam! Cindy, Eruption!" _Everyone else behind them!_

Maybe it would be enough to match. Maybe.

There was a painstaking moment as the remaining three of my team and I gathered behind the other two, the sound growing so loud to be painful as Cindy flared her core higher and higher.

Then with a mutual scream, the dragons let loose and Cindy's humps erupted with molten rock.

The next thing I was aware of was that I hurt all over and I had closed my eyes at some point. Upon opening them I found that I was lying on the ground. Focusing harder, I felt stone shifting a ways away. Then I sat up and saw the damage.

Minnow was limp, the left half of his plates all down his body were either blackened and cracked or shorn off entirely. Marble had been downrange and still looked like she'd been standing in front of a blast furnace. Her mask looked like it had taken most of the damage at the cost of being slagged. Cindy didn't look visibly hurt, but she barely registered on Imp's shared empathy. Imp herself was in a similar state as me, badly shaken and generally exhausted but still awake.

I recalled my fallen teammates. I could still feel all of them, but they were worryingly faint.

Rayquaza hadn't gotten by unscathed. It was still picking itself off of the ground as I took stock. It didn't appear to be very injured though, which was overall a good thing.

I was faintly surprised to discover that I was angry. We'd fought tooth and nail to keep the situation from getting as bad as it was. If this stupid dragon would just _do its damn job_ and stop trying to kill me for a minute we could all just go home and/or back to sleep.

The dragon stared at me and I stared back, then it started to get angry again. Not being in the best state of mind, I did something that could only be described as colossally stupid.

"What?! You've won! Are you just going to sit there like some uptight cactus or do your goddamn job already?!" I shouted at the dragon, hauling myself to my feet.

Two things then happened. The first was that it bolted for me again, apparently set on silencing me. The second was that Imp saved my life.

I wasn't sure at the time how she got to me before Rayquaza did, but space briefly twisted and I was stumbling for balance on the other side of the pillar. Looking back, it could only have been a teleport.

Barely wasting a moment, Rayquaza curved around and soared straight for us again. The game of cat and mouse continued for a minute, Imp and I blinking a little further away each time.

I shouted anything that came to mind that I thought would help. Reasons, pleas, even challenges. I briefly entertained the idea of simply porting near wherever Groudon and Kyogre were fighting, but a sharp twinge from my collar dissuaded that particular plan.

The problem wasn't getting any smaller either. Imp was the only one of my team still in action and she was flagging. Each teleport took just a little longer than the last one.

We couldn't leave, but if we stayed Rayquaza would catch up to us.

The decision made itself for me. Imp tried to pull us through the umpteenth warp when suddenly the vertigo spiked and we were dropped at the edge of the needle.

I'm not sure how Rayquaza knew we'd just scraped bottom, what's important was what it did about it.

The sound of tinnitus had never been so terrifying.

Imp tried. She pulled up a last dredge of power and was fully planning to override my standing order of _don't leave_.

It didn't matter, the teleport failed anyway.

Then she looked at me, and for the first time I could remember since Bonding I couldn't tell what was going through her head. She stood up with a slight wobble, turned towards Rayquaza, and raised her arms into a T.

Her mind was spent, so she was using her body instead. Protecting with all she had left.

This would kill her. It would kill both of us but it would _kill her._

Now is when I want to say that I remembered the promises I'd made to everyone. To visit once I'd finished my expedition, to bring Rayquaza back to help, to make sure I made it back home.

But I would be lying. The thought never even entered my mind.

The sound of light reached its apex Rayquaza was lowering its head. There was only time for one thought.

' _Take the rest of the team to a pokécenter, give the balls to a nurse and ask her to heal them.'_

The whole world was moving so slow. I grabbed the rest of the pokéballs from my belt and hurled them to the side. Imp was only starting to feel confusion at my words before I took the remaining ball and threw it at her. Rayquaza's head was almost down. The device impacted the middle of her back. The smallest sound of surprise before she vanished into it. I kicked it straight up before it landed.

My foot didn't make it back to the ground before the light rushed forward to meet me.

(Ẅ̷̘̫̺̲͉̯̝̱̙̋̅̓ͥͭ̚͢h̢̯̯ͯ́̿̿̉̽̕ͅõ̥͍̦͈̯ͦ͗͠ͅ ͧͫ̄͛͂͐ͤͮ҉̻̹͎̼G̛̮̤̼̜ͭͧ́̊ͮ̀̂͒ú̼̚͡͡ą̫̰̥̓͊̒ͣ́̚r̤͎̭͓͊̾̑̚ḋ̯̟͕̠͓̤͐͐s̷̸̡̼̫͈̎͑̓̽̓̃̇̅ ̢̺̰̹̖̥̜͇̀ͯͣ͒ͬt̏͑̐ͨ̄ͮ͋̿҉͈̙̤̤̯͖͙̣h̘͍̲͕̣̩̅̓̍͠e̴̷͉͇͉͙͒̈́̽ͦ ̧̮̝̩̼̖ͨ̅́͡W̪̰̺̻͖͕̠ͭ̅ͭ͛͗ͅo̹͓̺̱̲̹͓̱͕͐ͨ̅ͨ͜͜͝r̨̦̖̲̮ͮͧͣͥl͓̼͓̙͕̍̉̊͂̓ͪ̒ͯ͊d̴͈̩̓̃ ͇̦̉ͩ̂͐̊ͬ́͢f̅̈́̊̿̑͏̟̗̯̥͔̱̝͎͝r̜̳͍̹̦̣͙͂͑ͮ͟͝͞o̸͇͒̑̀̒ͫ͘͘m̲̹̭͓͔̘͇͐̆̃̽ͫ̅̎̇ ̪̜̘͈̉ͪ͝͠th̷̖ͨ͊ͭͥ̔ͫ̆̋e̳̤͚̟̻̞͗̓̾͒ͫ͒͐̚ ̧͎̩̲͙͇͚̘̣͎̅ͬ̿͑̉̚S̷͈̼͎̟̠̯͐̅̌̋͡k̛͙̪̏̓̈͛͛͝y̹̯̔̏̽ͮ͆͒̎̄)

That didn't make sense.

I closed the circuit of energy and the attack ceased immediately, dissipating into harmless levels entropy and contained energy.

I had believed the human's goal to be to bring destruction. It had carried the d̸͉̯͈͔̗̣̃̀̑͒̽̎ͅe͋͗̀̊҉̟̲̯̺v̴̰͉̱̞͈̮̖̇̿͊͛̒͗i̻̘̫ͩ̏̀͗ͦ̾c̟͔͗̈́́es̤͉̰̪͐ͩ͐͜ that kept my siblings in hibernation. I could see their battle from my perch.

But its actions had only indirectly supported such a conclusion. Waking me. Attempting to resist me when I tested its flesh. Defending when able and attacking only in defence.

If a human were to create destruction, it would be for a selfish motive. Grudge, irrationality, promise, there were four hundred and sixty three million nine hundred and fourty one thousand two hundred and five functionally unique reasons such destruction would be sought by a human.

Fewer than one fourteenth of a percent of those reasons in order of likelihood would account for a human using what would have been its last action to save its subjugates.

I had erred. The human and its subjugates had been harmed in varying degrees by my miscalculation. Though none of them had perished, a similarly unlikely outcome.

The human itself had a nine point eight one percent chance of surviving without external help. Endoskeletal fractures on all locomotive structures, internal vessel ruptures, dermal lesions and burns, new and old impairment of primary sensory organs.

I had attempted to remove the human to decrease the chance of another one waking my siblings. I had almost done too well.

One of the devices holding m̝͉̳͔̠̫͒̆̇ͧë̲̮̠́ͧ̉͛̅w̬̎͒̉ͣ̍̄̃-͔͙͋̐ͤ̄k̷͔͔͓̫̦̜̭i͈̜͌̽ͥ̐ṉ̸͙̪̲͔̂̊̋ͬͮ̇͌ ruptured and released the psychic organism contained within. Anaerobic compound buildup, conflicting synapse response, fight-or-flight cell signals recently renewed, fallback to instinctive behaviors. Symptoms of extreme physical and mental distress.

It ran to where the human had ended its trajectory, exacerbating the primary symptoms it displayed upon effective observance. New distress responses appeared as emotional stress further increased, including...

Unknown symptoms? Ocular malfunction: hyperactivity in invasive irritant removal fluid ducts. Respiratory malfunction: irregularity in musculoskeletal activity-

Oh.

It was crying. A uniquely human emotional response.

This was unexpected. Two individual times this human had introduced unforeseen deviations from expected responses.

I looked again to where my siblings were conflicting directives. Too affected by Ė̩̫͍̻͙̗̳́̇͑͗͗ͅn̠̮̥̲̦̄̔̂ͪ̽t̸̺̪̖͕͚̣ͫ̎̆̒̀ͥ̊̂ṛ̵̺̙̈͂̾̉̈ͪͫͬ̉́͞o̵̥̞ͣ̿̂̽͟͡p̵̦̙̥̗̱̘ͣ̏̆̚͠͝ͅỵ̨͈͚̟̓̀̏ͅ to accept problem-solving directives, the reason I had been created. Around them humans and their subjugates attempted to reduce the secondary entropy that resulted from their clash.

There were no humans attempting to increase the destruction. What clues I could parse indicated that the organization(s) responsible for their waking had already been pacified.

An atypical sound brought my focus back to the human I had injured. The psychic had extracted an auditory device from the human's item carrier and was utilizing a primarily human instinct to inject air into the device. Some form of seminative coping mechanism.

The sound it made was... pleasing. Musical.

When the psychic observed that it held my primary attention it provided a third deviation from expected qualities.

"Please. Help him."

I had been asleep too long. I had neglected the secondary functions of my directive.

I had very nearly killed a H͓͔͇ë͕́̐ͩͮř̼͍̼͇̥̓͂́o͎̱͎͕̪̠̅̓̑̊͗̚.

G̏ͭͩ̈́͏̡͚͖͈̪̠̣̥̺̻͕ȯ̡̹̩͍̼͉̯̠͍͚̬̰͇͗̅̍ͦ͑̏͛ͪ̄̈́̉̋̕̕͞ͅd̶̢̡̧̢̖͖̫͙̼͖̪͎͌͒ͥ̉͆̌̋ would be displeased. Whatever honor I had left demanded that I correct this.

I was poorly equipped to communicate with the psychic, but I would require her assistance if I were to provide the assistance the human required. The emotive interface was not designed to express intelligent thought.

 _Do you want to save human?_ Curiosity and a sense of importance.

' _Why did you attack him? He tries so hard to help. Why does everyone want to hurt him?'_ Anger, confusion, regret, and sadness.

 _I was wrong. Angry. Do you want to save him?_ Shame and impatience.

' _You won't hurt him?'_ Hope.

 _No._

The psychic stood, still too exhausted to levitate without incurring lasting damage.

' _Yes. Please.'_

For a period lasting approximately one point four one seconds I could clearly see the substance of her soul. It would do nicely, impurities only in quantities small enough to be dismissed as noise and an all pervasive trust for the human.

I siphoned energy from my core to an organ I hadn't used since the early days of creation. Matter was drawn in and altered before assembling the catalyst necessary for the desired process. When the item was complete it was relocated to my esophageal opening and peristalsis moved it from there to my mouth where I placed it on the ground.

Perfectly spherical and transparent to most mundane spectrums, except for a carefully spun ribbon of minerals encased in the middle. All of it small enough to be held in the psychic's precision digits.

With a greater than ninety seven point zero five percent chance of its function being fulfilled, I retrieved the d̸͉̯͈͔̗̣̃̀̑͒̽̎ͅe͋͗̀̊҉̟̲̯̺v̴̰͉̱̞͈̮̖̇̿͊͛̒͗i̻̘̫ͩ̏̀͗ͦ̾c̟͔͗̈́́es̤͉̰̪͐ͩ͐͜ I had created and began translocating toward my siblings. Secondary duties aside, I still had my primary ones to complete.

Logarithmic quantities of energy were being directed to the tines on the back of my skull, causing large volume air currents to degenerate into their harmless equivalents as atmospheric humidity fell out of phase to leave the sky visibly clear.

The coastline had suffered significant flooding from tidal anomalies. The area was not heavily developed, but signs of human influence could be identified in the flotsam and detritus. The lack of injured, stranded, or deceased mobility capable organisms indicated some form of early warning system functional enough for an evacuation.

It took very little time to identify the few who had chosen to stay. Even in the constant expulsions of energy my siblings were emitting I could identify clusters of humans and subjugates. They had been attacking my siblings in what was most likely a misguided attempt to make them cease.

It would never have worked. They would conflict until their dying effort unless I intervened, something that would take a _very_ long time on its own.

Functionally little effort was required. Energy was directed to their corresponding frequencies and they ceased their conflict. Once the hypnotic state was fully established I directed them to return to their domains and resume their previous hibernative states.

I hovered for a brief time to ensure no further anomalies were generated before I began to process the next problem. The safe on the mountain had proven ineffective for keeping the duo contained. Keeping them at my own resting place had several potential benefits to security, but an incursion of the d̅ͮͩ̏̀҉̵̺͎̲͟e̫̯͕͎̣͉͎̘̗͕̻͋͊̽̒̏͒͌̊̔̄̑ͤ̄͑̎͑̓ͬ́͘o̤̠̯̙͇̱͈̺͍͕̜̯̞͓ͪ͒͛͌͂͑̔ͧ̐̍̚͘̕͜͞x̸̶͚͇̗̯͊̋̇̽ͩͬ̾̊ͤͥ̇̈́̂́̏̚̚͢͞y̸̡̢̥͎̹͈̮͈̘͇͕͙̞̫̱͙͍̙ͩͥ͂ͩ̑ͨ̌̅́͝s̶̝͕͈͈̗̥̖͉̗͙̖̬͓̒̋ͯ͌͋ͬͫ͒̀͜͢͞ would risk their descruction, or less ideally their abduction.

Multiplicities of solutions. None of them were realizable.

That was an assumption. Several outright deviations from major predictions had been observed. The statistical majority of humans still followed trends observed in previous civilizations, but a single organism had confounded me.

The human who woke me. There was potential for an adaptive containment if it could be convinced to assist.

I rose into the inhospitable layers of the atmosphere and focused my eyes, searching the large human nests for the one bearing signs of injuries I had given. Its favored subjugate had since devised the use of the item I had left it and relocated them both to a healing building, I only needed to locate which one...

The nest on the coast north of the place my siblings clashed. Ideally placed for large population trade routes. I began my relocation.

My course of action was not perfect, there would likely be social ramifications of my visible interest in the confusing human. Necessary for the chosen path.

Verbal sounds of surprise and fear sounded as I passed above the streets of the shore nest, continuing until I reached the wall of the healing building closest to the particular human.

It was still unconscious, though the psychic had felt my approach and positioned itself defensively between myself and the human. The effects of the item were visible, the structure of its implement was both far hardier and more efficient than previously.

The human was doing poorly. It had been stabilized, but the imperfect natural mechanisms it was using to regain homeostasis were inflicting almost as much damage as they were correcting. The optimal scenario for this path was closed when I observed the storage devices it kept its subjugates in elsewhere, undergoing a much more streamlined and effective form of medicine.

Looking closer at the human was difficult. Despite the relative frailty of their bodies, their souls were... complicated. Even in the rare event that they were bare to the world, their substance was difficult to parse and functionally impossible to predict. Most of them at least.

Just as the psychic had been deeply touched by the human, so it had been touched in turn. Cross contamination of auras that should have been filtered out and removed had instead been integrated. The human was carrying little pieces of the souls of its subjugates.

This presented an opportunity. One that could even further ensure the stability of my current path.

It would, however, require the human to be conscious. So I coiled into my resting conformation next to the healing building and waited.

(Wallace)

I was surprised to discover that I was awake. The last thing I had seen should have been the last thing I ever would.

Before that...

I tried to sit up and was immediately informed by every nerve ending I possessed that I really shouldn't have done that. Partially because I had been - however briefly - on the receiving end of a Hyper Beam, and partially because there was something heavy on my face preventing me from moving.

Correction, some _one_.

"Imp, I think you're getting a bit big for doing this. Wouldn't you say?"

She gradually started to wake up and I noticed two things. One was that I was failing to open my eyes somehow, two was that Imp felt different. In every application of the word she felt just a little bit off. It was still definitely her, but it was like she was half again more _herself_.

I was distracted from my pondering when Imp woke fully and did exactly what she'd done last time I'd been in this situation. She hovered into place just over me and started placing her hands on my face while making sounds of worry.

"I'm still alive, so you must have worked some real magic to get me out of this one."

"While I'm normally reserved about giving credit to the supernatural for things we don't understand, I think an exception could be made regarding the events that occurred today." A male voice spoke from the corner. Calm and smooth as a northern lake.

I managed to avoid squeaking in surprise, mostly because the motion turned the sound into a muffled gasp of pain. I reached for Imp's senses and she allowed me access a moment later.

"I believe some introductions are in order," the man said from his spot near the door. Even I recognized his face. "Hello Wallace. I'm Wallace."

There was a moment of quiet between us while I tried to parse an intelligent response for the League Champion of Hoenn. The silence stretched. Imp fidgeted and turned toward me, giving me a good look of the almost comical number of bandages I was wrapped in, including a few layers over my eyes.

"So... What happened?" I eventually asked just to break the silence.

I was not weak, but this man was _strong._

"All in all? I suppose not that much compared to what it all means. Groudon and Kyogre met and fought on the east coast of the Vaccinium Peninsula. I along with the other League Champions and the Elite four from Kanto and Johto did what we could to slow them down while you worked on getting Rayquaza to help."

I digested that for a minute. I'd known my plan would be important regardless of how it ended, but not _that_ important.

"While we fought a few of the other ancients made an appearance. Latios and Latias have been spotted for the first time in almost thirty years and we're fairly certain one of the last mew was attracted to the battle. They were similarly unable to stop the clash, but they prevented the damage from growing truly catastrophic.

"After roughly three hours of fighting, Rayquaza ripped a hole in the clouds and did something that just made the other two stop. Groudon has retreated to a cave west of Fallarbor and Kyogre to a cavern some eighty miles south of Ever Grande.

"During that time, your companion here appears to have undergone an undocumented evolution and teleported you - _near fatal injuries and all_ \- to the Lilycove pokécenter."

The gears clicked for a few seconds before everything started moving again. At my behest Imp looked down at herself and gave me a better look of exactly what had changed.

Her dress thing had bloomed all the way out into a full on gown that gave her a genuinely regal look. Her hands had shifted from the semirigid green material to the short white fur and flesh she had everywhere else. Her sensory radius had also gone up a few notches, she could track just about anyone inside the hospital even with us being off to the side.

The most prominent change however, was that she now had twin heartpieces sticking out of her chest.

Imp felt like she wanted to say something, but just pointed me back to Wallace when I inquired.

"We thought that was all the excitement we were due for today. That was before Rayquaza did something no one expected," he made a gesture to the window of my room.

"It came straight to you, and took a power nap. The first running theory is _what the fuck_. The second was that you managed to beat it in a fight and now it'll follow you around but no one's actually sure. Mind filling us in on what happened at Sky Pillar?"

I had to be dreaming. There were too many continuity errors for any of this to make sense. I _had_ to be dreaming.

I realized my mouth was already making the necessary noises with Imp's help by the time I refocused. She passed the buck to me and I picked up at around the time Sylph got caught. I immediately stopped and made a small sound of panic.

"Your team has been treated and is being kept in a PC to reduce the chance of any one of them breaking out and raising hell looking for you." Wallace offered at my sudden panic. "All of them have made full recoveries with the exception of your gyarados. I don't know what could injure a gyarados like that, and he'll have the scars forever, but he should recover without other complications."

Relaxing back into the hospital bed I continued with my recounting. It was still difficult, especially when I got to the part about the first Hyper Beam Rayquaza had tried on us.

I didn't have to finish though, his expression gave me enough reason to stop.

"You-... You ordered your gyrados to counter with _another_ hyper beam?" It was the first time his composure had really started to crack.

"I'm not pretending it was a good idea. It was just the _least bad_. Running wasn't an option and defending wouldn't have worked."

I continued with my story after that, not that there was much more. There was actually a fairly conspicuous gap in events that only one person in the room had born witness to.

I turned a little toward Imp, feeling bad for putting her on the spot.

 _You don't need to say anything if you don't want to. You've done enough._

' _No, I can tell this is important.'_ She straightened and looked at Wallace.

"After I broke out of the ball, I tried to see if He was hurt..." And she spoke.

I'd known she could speak for awhile, at least since my encounter with May. Yet I'd never actually _heard_ her before.

Despite the regality of her form, she sounded like a young girl; with all the emotion and unsurety that came with it. When I thought about it that's what her internal voice sounded like too, I'd just never noticed before now.

"I don't understand what it did. It felt like it was _looking_ at me." She emphasized the word with a projected thought. "Then... it gave me this."

She held up a tiny object, reminiscent of a marble. A perfect clear sphere with a ribbon of red, green, and white curling through the middle.

It was her. It might be more accurate to say it was a _part_ of her, but it didn't feel disconnected enough for that to be true. Like looking through a lense that made it easier to see yourself, but it was a marble, that you held in your hand.

I don't think either of us quite got it, but the effects were frankly impossible to ignore.

"It makes me stronger. Strong enough that I could get you here without..." She finished, sounding uncomfortable.

"Well... I'm hesitant to make any assumptions just yet. And more importantly we still have one more problem to deal with." He pushed from the wall and walked to the window, pulling the blinds open.

Imp's eyes adjusted easily, giving me a very close profile of Rayquaza peering into my hospital room. It apparently wasn't feeling any emotions at all so I had missed it with Imp's earlier sweep.

 _Y'know, my dreams aren't usually this persistent._ I thought absently, turning my head toward the dragon god. _Or completely insane._

' _It... It wants to talk to you but it can't make words.'_

 _I'll just have to manage then._ I felt toward Rayquaza.

It was different this time. Earlier its emotions had been all I could really focus on, both from their volume and how hard it had been to focus at all.

Now they just weren't there. There was a deeper structure I hadn't noticed. Like I was getting a better look at the river stones because all the water was gone. Except the stones were moving, clacking into each other in some perfect system. A system that absolutely noticed my probing.

' _H͇̜̫͇͓̦̜̅̿ͭ̔ͥ͊u̳͔͐́͗͐̔́͢r͖͉̘̯̙̣̉̊͋́t̰̩̬͕̹̩̋ͭ̑̽̔͊ͨ͜ͅ,̅̄̈́ ̨̭͚̤̽́h̝̼͕͙̘͑͐e̞͎̠̠̖̭̭͗̊ͣ̾͌͛͝a͇̱͛̽͂̆̽l̮̺̟̱̩͓͍ͧͭ͐̋̓͞,̓̑̔̽͗͠ ̘̫͓̲͋͗͘a̩̣̼̋́ì̱̬̻̳͖d,͍̯͕̲͒ͯ͊̏ ̢̯̟͍̝͖̫̉̓͊ͯr̮͙̟̜̙̲ͮ̎ͪͅȩ͖͓͇̦̜̣͋ͣq̹̫̰̰͔͇̞ͮ̈͛̽ͥṵ͇͗̽͂ͨ̇ͫ͜ȩ̞͚̱̠͙̱ͦ͌̿ͦ́̍̎s̥̯̪̠̿ͅt̼̩͘.͍̦̞̄ͫ͋̉͗ͫ'_

Both Imp and I flinched at the thought, if it could even be called that. Each word felt like an entire philosophy or language compressed into the space of a moment. Every little echo of every little meaning or context of each term.

' _Ạͯ̃ͭ̈́̚p̹̮͎̙̮̾ͪ̊̌͑̈́̒͜o̺̫̥͉̲̫̲͌͂l̛̝̰̗̈́̾ͣ̇ͅŏ͛̄͌ͩͫg̴̳̟̙̩̯̲͖ͬ̎ͦ̚̚y̱ͪ.̗͍ͫ͜'_

Not just for the immediate discomfort, but for nearly brutally murdering me on Sky Pillar, and for... something else I couldn't parse.

 _I don't understand. What needs healing?_

' _You.'_

That had been... clear.

 _Why do I need to be healed? Groudon and Kyogre have stopped, right?_

It shifted, bringing its claws into view. Clutched in the enormous talons were the red and blue spheres that had caused everyone so much trouble.

' _Ą̝̼̟̳ͨ̓̔̂̉̉͐i̖̜̬͖͐̀̚d̖̬̞̠̥̻̞̏͋̆͋,̭̺̱͖̣͙̊̋̏̑ͤͣͅ ̞̻ͧ͗̀g̮̦ͫͬ̐̀̚uͣ̔ͯ̎̄͢a̸͇̺̱͊ͬ̏ͭ̾̚r̩̞̳̋͡d̠̤͈̼̭̺͑̆ͫ͆̒ͨ,̮͜ ̶̦̪̭͍̪ĥ̂͂e̸̩̠͕̯͉͕̻̓ͪ̆̋l̾͒ͣͯp͔̺̂̄̃ͧ̇̀,͇̺͙̌ͣ͑̃̉͐ ̞̺͛ͣͬ̋ͧͯͥș̬͇͈̮͉ͬ̍ͨ̊ͯt͓̹̞̫̱̠̱́r̹͕̹͎̫̹ͮ͗͂̐ǫ̬͙̮ͤ̐n̠̅̓̍̾͑̓g͓̱̞͖̖̺̙͒̌ͤ̒̈͒,͎̏̑ͥͩͮͫ ̗͇ͥ̚u̇ͣ͆ͥ̍ṉ̷͂ͧ̾ͦ̔ͨk͖̲̓ͦͪͧ̃ͬn̡͈̔̑ͪő̗̫̼̻̖̅͘w̷̩̝̝̲͖͔ͯ̊͛ͣn̹̋͌̀ͤͩͬ.̩ͪ̇ͭ'_

I was rapidly developing a headache, Imp was only doing marginally better.

 _You want me to guard the spheres?_

' _Yes.'_

I would have asked why but I wasn't sure I could have understood the answer.

 _I'll need to heal first. I'm still injured._

' _Hͤͨ͊͒͟e̩̻̝͊ͨ̚̚a͈̫̜͚̮̘ͧͫ͌́l̗̬̳̫̬,̜̇ͦ̆̋̏ͬ̚ ̩̗̏ͦ̂̚t͍͈̼̰ͨ͢e̢̗̯̣̙͚̦̖ͩä̹̲̺͗̌̑m̵̬͉͖̼͇̅͋̈́̽,̷͙͇͔̿̀ͩ̑̓̌̃ ̽́̓p̰͈̝̜̎̈́͊ͫͪ͊̀͞ō̉ͩ̚t̮̼̜͒͒͗̑ͣͭͅe͔̪̘̻̅ͩ̀n͖̥̗͐ͭͯͬ͞ṯ͈̜͍̣͎ͩ̑͊̑ͧ̏̌i̞̩̬̣̟̩̾͛̀͊̑̄͞a͓̪̘̿̈́̓ͪ́͘l͎̹̭͎̹͓̜ͤ̎͢.͈̪̝̼̫͎̼̑̉̉̊'_

My skull throbbed, I brought a hand up and rubbed at my bandages.

 _My team can heal me?_

' _Y̴̬̥̣̟̟̤͖̿͊ė̼͇̪̌̌͆̄̾́s̤̻̥̳̥͍̊̌.̛̗̳̹͈̰͈̘̄̅̽͌ͪͫ̒'_

My team could _help_ heal me. Rayquaza needed their help to do something that would help heal me. I think.

"And chance I could get my team and head outside?" I asked Wallace.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Do I want to know why?"

"Rayquaza says he can use their help to heal me. Not sure how, but it seemed convinced."

He gave me a long look before exhaling shortly. "Sure, let me go get the nurse."

I waited in the bed, actually taking a moment to look over my injuries. What must have been a full body ache was dulled to manageable levels by what was hopefully just a pain medicine drip attached to the IV in my arm. Both arms and legs were in casts, and I had to keep my breaths shallow to stop my entire ribcage from searing in protest. My mouth was the only real skin showing, and it both looked and felt like I'd french kissed a fire.

All in all, I was in pretty bad shape. It had taken weeks to recover from a sprained ankle, how long would I need to recover from this? I also hadn't missed that I couldn't really hear from my own ears and that the bandages went over my eyes.

I wanted to see if Rayquaza could actually do anything, even if it had tried to kill me a few hours earlier.

After a minute Wallace returned with one of the nurses.

"Are you certain you want to try moving? Even with the narcotics, this is going to be painful." She asked.

"Yeah, let's get this over with."

Spraining my ankle on Mt. Chimney had hurt. Falling out of a tree in Fortree had hurt. Getting deafened by Groudon had hurt.

This was excruciating.

I avoided moving where I could, even so it was an entire ordeal on its own just getting into the wheelchair. Imp levitating me helped tremendously, but didn't change the fact that I had about half as many fractures as I did bones.

After a million years of pain and suffering I was finally in the chair breathing hard from the pain and the nurse wheeled me to the elevator. From there it was to the lobby and out of the building.

I felt them about the same time Imp heard them.

Reporters, dozens of them. I vainly hoped they were waiting for the other Wallace.

No luck there, the questions started the second the door slid open. They all stopped the next.

The surprise rippled through the crowd, bringing silence with it. I must have looked worse than I thought.

Impassively, Wallace made a path for the nurse as she wheeled me out into the daylight.

It was clear blue sky as far as Imp could see, only a light breeze and the warm sun. I couldn't feel either through my bandages.

There was the chatter of cameras snapping pictures, but no one dared to speak.

I craned my head up slightly and felt for Rayquaza.

 _Would you mind coming to us?_

No perceptible emotion, just processing the request and giving immediate acknowledgment. Hardly a second later, the titanic green serpent was hovering in the air above the crowd.

A few screams and panicked mutters broke out but neither of us payed attention to them. At least it was focused on me in case things went badly.

"Would you mind letting my team out, Nurse?" I asked, Imp had seen her carrying my belt.

She did so with a bit of trepidation, I wasn't sure if my warning about their size helped or not.

I and Imp helped calm them down as the nurse let them out. We had a precedent of not attacking people who had attacked us previously with May, but I never thought this would be how it would pay out.

Once everyone was out I reached for the dragon. _Now what?_

' _You carry fragments of their wͩ҉͕h̛̪͍̺͔ͅo̪̗̻̘͖͂̐̓ͅlͥ̑è͙̝̰̩̠ͅ. Through them you may g̴͍̦͍̯̜̞͖ͧͣr͉̆̎̊ͦ̽̕o͆ͧ҉̜̭͈̱͙w͖̞̰͆̔̿ͬ̅̔͡ whole again.'_

It moved, lowering it's head to Minnow until their noses almost touched. Its lines flashed yellow and for a moment I thought it was about to attack, then it opened its mouth and dropped a tiny, blue marble. Minnow caught it, it rang with same strangely familiar feeling as the one Imp still held.

Rayquaza went around to each of the members of my team, spitting out tiny fragments of their truths.

I'd felt it strongest with Imp and Marble. Right now the feeling was almost overwhelming.

Like they were all about to evolve. Just a tiny push and they would start shifting.

Finally, the serpent lowered its head to me.

It took much longer, and the flashes almost seemed to sputter out a few times. Then finally it opened its mouth.

The object it dropped into my lap wasn't quite what I'd been expecting. Like someone had tried to put too many colors inside one marble so you wound up with a spherical chunk of glass that was almost painfully chromatic. Like sticking a kaleidoscope inside a crystal ball. It wasn't organized either, the others followed perfect designs but this was the visual equivalent of noise.

I felt Imp's attention redirect, something Rayquaza said to her but not me.

She passed the message along to everyone else and they drew close around me.

' _F̜̫͗̋͘è̗̖͙̣̪̤̖͝ḙ̛̲͂ͣͧ͒͂̀̍l̛͉̹͋ͦ̋͌ ̩̖̰̳̺͚͜ͅt̗̣͇̺͔̃ͨh̛̦̬̑̐̇e͉̞̣̖͕͛ͬ̄̈̄̊̀͡m̥͔̦̍ͨ̑ͮ͠.͉͔̰͖̳͓̎̾ͫͩ̀ ̷̩͈͊͌̾͂̑ ̥̟̥̣̯͖̑̾̍̒̽̿͡T̬͐̆͒h̼͆̂̎̆͑͋͝r͈͉̪̋̊o͓͍̩̗̮͚̩̓͊u̧̥̫͖̩͉͗ͣ̊g̱͐͌ͧ̾̉͑h̖͖̩̠̪̣̏ ̣͖̬t͙͎̫̖̪̻ͅhe̵̦̊m ̌͆̈́͂y̦ͣ͊ͫ̈́ͫ̓͟o͍̔ͦͧ́ͦ̽̇u̸̻̒̌ͯͤ ̤͙̗̭͚͓̣́ͬ̿̏͊̀ḁ́ͪ̍ͧ͋̂̾r̭̞̝̓ͫ͡e̪̭̘̬͊̄ͧ͢ ̪͕̱m̹͖̎͐́̈́̋͗ą̑͊́ͣ̍̔ͣḓ͉͇̥̺̹ͦͫ̀̾ͬ̉ͅê̛̤̄͌ͪ ̨͚͈͔̜̪̀̂͊ͤ̍͊n͙̳̈́̒̀e̫͙̠̙ͮwͫ̍͗̈́ͥͬ͏͎.̦͆̄̏͌'_

Then there was light.

(May)

"-in what is being called nothing short of a miracle, Agent Wallace, AKA White Hat, has been completely healed by the actions of the legendary Rayquaza. League officials are still denying reporters access to the hospital where Wallace is being kept on account..."

I stopped focusing on the TV.

First the Aqua base, then what people were already starting to call The Cataclysm, then this.

Wallace had had a personal hand in the fate of Hoenn. I'd been helping organize relief efforts and marginally supporting the efforts in slowing down Mt. Chimney. If there were ever a time when Wallace and I were honest equals, that time had since passed.

It was tempting to think that he was the same slightly awkward kid I'd been giving instructions to less than half a year ago, but that wasn't true.

Once Groudon had left and subsequently found another cave to go hide in, the earthmover corps had almost immediately fragmented. The lava was all cooling off on its own so the need for volunteers had all but vanished. With nothing else to really do I'd taken to the sky. At the moment, I was riding Feilong in the vague direction of Lilycove, by most rights I should have been making my way home to check in but I couldn't quite bring myself to alter course.

I wanted to talk to him. I didn't really have a reason _why_. But for some reason it felt important. All I could do was hope my status of friend(?) would be enough to warrant a visit.

I was wondering if I had high enough clearance to speak with Wallace. A snort of laughter got past my lips.

The flight was short, the air currents had been favorable so I was able to make it to Lilycove by early afternoon. My only previous visit had been cut short by the desperate call for volunteers to help with Chimney, even so it was easy to see the city was much more active than last time.

The Cataclysm had only briefly reached this far north so most of the damage had already been swept away and was on its way to being mended.

Unsurprisingly, I could make out the crowd around the hospital even from my perch in the sky. I guided Feilong into an easy circle down as I pulled out my nav.

I spent longer staring at the little orange device than I care to admit. What was I even going to say?

 _Hey, I heard you saved the world. Good job with that, you got time for a chat about nothing in particular?_

I made myself start dialing before I could come up with a good reason not to.

The dial tone mocked me for several seconds. Honestly it was surprising anyone picked up at all.

"May?" Why did he sound so hopeful?

"Yeah, hey Wallace."

"Is there any chance you need me urgently enough that it would warrant getting me out of another set of tests?"

"What? I was mostly just calling to see if you had time to talk."

"Can it _please_ be urgent? If I see another scanner that's not mine I'm going to puke."

So maybe he hadn't changed too much.

"Sure, where do you want me?"

I heard him shuffling around on the other side and a few voices I couldn't make out before he brought the nav back up to his ear. "I'll just come to you. Where are you?"

"I'm riding Feilong, just tell me where to land."

"Wait, are you the one circling the hospital?"

"Uh, yes?" I glanced around on the roof, but I couldn't make out anyone.

"Alright, just a moment..." His voice trailed off, sounding focused.

*Bamf*

Then Sylph, Wallace, and Imp suddenly materialized across from where Feilong was hovering.

"Alright, we should probably get going. People never look up, but I'd rather not push my luck." He circled around before heading back west, towards Route 121.

I followed for a time, it didn't take us long to find somewhere remote enough for him to land. A small trail branching north off of the route passing through a spacious clearing.

"Sorry for dragging you all the way out here. I don't think I've let anyone know where I live but I get the feeling I'm going to be dodging reporters for a while. And by a while I mean the rest of my life. So what did you want to talk about?"

 _Good question._ "I mostly just wanted to catch up, but I doubt you want to recount what happened again."

"Ehh, yeah. How's this, I'll tell you what I've been up to since Fortree if you do the same."

I was a little taken aback, but it made a degree of sense. "Sure."

So he started into his tale.

(Maxxie)

I continued pacing. My feet hurt and my legs were sore but that barely registered.

The lava had started to cool, so it was finally safe for a news helicopter to survey the damage Groudon had caused - both from the volcano, and on it's warpath to meet Kyogre.

Fields of black rock, not a soul to be found anywhere within eighty miles of Mt. Chimney. With the sole exception of Lavaridge. By some miraculous feat of earthmoving, a group of trainers had managed to divert the flow around the mountain village. It's hadn't been without its damage though. Little more than the gym was left and without some serious drainage systems the whole area threatened to turn into a lake..

Then there was what Groudon had left in its wake, changing the landscape like the force of creation it was.

A quarter mile wide swath of nothing but black, volcanic glass. Occasionally fissures and vents would open up to spray magma into the countryside. Much of the Hoenn's forests had burned.

 _And for what?_

Even if I'd been able to control the primordial beast, the destruction would have been titanic.

 _It wasn't supposed to be like this. A few new islands and peninsulas for people and pokémon to live on. Maybe a new landmass somewhere else in the world, not..._

I stopped pacing and sat on the cot. The television in the corner of my cell continued to mock me with images of destroyed homes and silent ash.

(Archie)

I sat on my cot, fingers interlaced and unmoving. I had almost expected the kid, Wallace, to finish the job when we'd woken Kyogre. We'd been floundering in the water, it would have been _easy._

It'd be what I would have done.

" _If you had even the faintest idea of what unleashing Kyogre would do, you never would have dared set foot here."_

Perhaps the truest words anyone had ever spoken to me. I'd expected...

I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting anymore. A perfect outlet of water, so the oceans would rise at a manageable rate?

I had mentally reduced the god of the ocean to a faucet. It took a special kind of foolishness to bend common sense _that_ far out of shape.

I'd turned the TV off after only a few minutes. Pictures of wrecked houses on the beach, coastline forests reduced to mud and sand, the storm...

And now here I was, paying for deliberately tampering with forces I hadn't understood. Using what little faith I had left to thank Wallace for _somehow_ waking Rayquaza before too many more had suffered.

It wasn't fair to the kid. He looked younger than I had been when I'd started forming what would become Team Aqua, but the weight of the entire goddamn world had been put on his shoulders.

And this little slip of a boy, battered past recognition, had pulled an Atlas to keep it safe.

A dry laugh escaped my mouth. It might take the rest of my life, but I would make things right.


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue: Here's to the Future

(Wallace)

(Three Months Later)

I exited Birch's lab and stretched in the morning sunlight, more out of habit than comfort. I hadn't felt even remotely sore since Rayquaza had...

Well, the jury was still out on what exactly had happened. Whatever it was, Imp had reverted back to her regular tertiary evolution, which sent the scientific community into a _second_ collective conniption. She didn't seem to care much though, so I let the matter go.

I started back to my parents' house, having promised to be home before dinner.

After giving the press a few bones to chew on, I'd made a point of finishing my expedition. Honestly, not much happened other than finally getting to Pacifidlog and seeing firsthand what the remains of the Vaccinium Peninsula looked like. I would be angrier at Rayquaza taking so long to get his butt in gear if he hadn't immediately apologized by dropping a miracle in my lap.

Today had marked my last data turn in for Birch, and thus the conclusion of my expedition. There was certainly more work to be done, but Birch was going to have months of data analysis ahead of him before he would need any return trips. On a different note, I felt like I had earned something of a break. Not to mention that I'd given Birch data on _Rayquaza_ , something that had turned him into a bit of a celebrity himself among his peers.

I passed Mrs. Fructus' yard, noting the happily sprouting Liechi shrubs. An acquisition from a tiny island south of Sky Pillar. There hadn't been many, so I'd taken what I found to her.

Apparently they made the best pokéblock _ever_ but the berries were so hard to grow she hadn't shared any just yet. Hopefully she'd find a way to make the medicinal seeds I'd bought way back in Verdanturf a little more palatable.

Once I got home I let myself in, suppressing the instinct to knock. Calling it home… it felt a little forced. I felt Mom in the kitchen, and surprisingly enough Dad in the living room too.

"Hey, Dad. Didn't know you'd be dropping by today," I greeted, kicking off my ragged sneakers and walking into the living room.

"Well it's not everyday your son finishes their expedition. Your mother and I figured we should do something to celebrate the occasion. How's dinner at the Wire Grill sound? I know you haven't been yet, but the food's been great when your mother and I have gone."

"Sounds good. It's a bit of a walk to Oldale but if we leave soon we can get back before it gets dark." I peered out the window, gauging the remaining daylight.

"Or we could, y'know, drive."

I blinked. "Right, we could do that too." Spending so long traveling on foot - or wing or scale or spatial warp - had almost made me forget that Hoenn actually had real roads. "What time should I tell the crew I'm leaving?"

Dad smirked. "You can bring them if you want. Mr. Merten has been dying to meet you since I told him you were back; mentioned wanting to meet your team too, if that's alright."

I held back a sigh. I knew people would _eventually_ figure out where 'White Hat' lived, but I'd been putting considerable effort into leaving as few public hints as possible. Everyone in Littleroot knew, but that was like two dozen people total.

Even so, I couldn't just hide in my parent's house forever.

"Sounds good, I'll meet you there."

(Norman)

Dinner was nice, though not as enjoyable as I would have liked. I genuinely wanted to celebrate the end of Wallace's expedition, but I also wanted to help him get used to his recently acquired fame.

Mr. Merten asking for an autograph hadn't been part of the plan, but Wallace had taken it in stride.

There was so little I could do for him now, so little I had done. He'd carried the weight of the world and come out stronger for it. It was better than the alternative, the one that had come all to close to happening, that _had_ happened.

Hearing the litany of injuries from a nurse half a region away. Sixty percent of his body covered in burns, thirty one individual bone fractures, scarring on his eyes, internal bruising...

Apparently the result of standing unprotected in front of a goddamn _Hyper Beam_. Somewhere beneath the horror, I'd been so, _so_ angry to hear he'd done something so reckless.

Then a myth of creation incarnate, the same one who had apparently tried to kill him to begin with, had flown out of the sky and made him evolve. It hadn't been as dramatic as anything most pokémon managed, but I've been working with pokémon my whole life. There wasn't anything else it could have been.

I wasn't even sure he realized it himself. How he moved more gracefully than he should have, how he always knew exactly where everyone was, how his reflexes had inexplicably improved. Everything about him was just a little _more._

Connie jabbed me with the handle of her fork, I belatedly realized I'd been ruminating in silence for the last few minutes.

"So, now that you're all done with your expedition, what are you planning on doing now?"

Wallace leaned away from his plate and stared up at the ceiling before letting out a breath.

"I'm not sure. I suppose the obvious answer would be to stay home and let things return to normal..."

 _I'm hearing a 'but.'_

"But can I really do that? Honestly? A year ago Wallace was a twelve year old who didn't go out much and didn't have many friends, even before he moved. Who did decently in school but never really _wanted_ to do anything.

"None of that's true anymore. Well, except the school thing I suppose. My team and I could go toe to toe with any member of the Elite Four, now. Staying home would be a waste, even if it didn't drive me up the wall. And it _would_ , now. I can be honest about that."

"So you're not going to be staying?" Connie's voice was even, but that hid nothing from anyone present.

"I'm not planning on leaving forever. I seem to recall saying that it'll take more than that for you guys to get rid of me," he grinned. "Maybe just go visit some of my old haunts in Johto, meet new people, get some more data for Birch while I'm at it. Might even do some travelling with May so we can start outnumbering the bad memories."

I hid a smirk and carefully suppressed the emotions that came with it. He doubtlessly noticed May avoiding him around Littleroot lately, but I'd bet my badge he didn't know _why_.

"I think she'd enjoy that." Connie said with a smile that fooled _one_ person present. Wallace looked briefly suspicious before shrugging and taking another bite of his burger.

Then I caught the look my wife was giving me.

' _Don't get too smug, you were just as bad.'_

"Well, the interrogation train's still rolling, so I might as well ask. Any idea when Birch'll get the fully tally of your compensation together?" I asked.

"Nope. Even without adding Rayquaza to the mix I got scans of an absol and a few relicanth, which on its own is enough to cover most of my equipment replacement costs. I doubt it'll be much of an issue for me. I mean, I've only just started on the money I got from Wattson and now that I can avoid fights with a clean conscience I won't be spending half as much on medicine. Honestly I'll probably just stick it all in a savings account until I need it. Maybe invest or donate some. I'll need to see the actual numbers."

And that was what he did now. Look to the future to see what needed doing. He'd solved all the big problems that were happening in front of him so he was looking for the next ones. Even now he wasn't fully focused on the conversation.

Yeah, staying home would only make him chafe. He wasn't wrong about staying being a waste either. He was, Arceus help me, Champion material and with a little more training the title could be his. I had few doubts who Drake was going to ask to be his replacement when he got around to retiring.

After that, the conversation ambled through the more everyday topics - goings on at the Gym, goings on around Littleroot, how Wallace's many friends had taken the news.

That last one was a bit of a sore spot for him; a handful of them just weren't sure how they were supposed to act around a 'bigwig from the League' and a few had even devolved into hero worship.

Even after the food was gone was we just sat around and talked. I didn't know how long this peace would last, how long it would be before I got another call from the news stations or the League or the hospital.

I would enjoy it while it did.

(Wallace)

The League had been fairly quiet since the events of three months ago. Aside from efforts to aid the reconstruction of Lavaridge and repair the many roads that had been damaged by the clash, the most exciting thing was a buzz flying around the research community since a detailed scan of Rayquaza had been released from some no name lab in Littleroot.

Of course, following the trail back to its source led me to my eponymous counterpart.

How very surprising.

What was _actually_ surprising was that the data hadn't been obtained from a pokéball. I hadn't quite put the pieces together from the reports I'd been getting, but if the hearsay was to be believed he used a tactic not unlike what the safari employed to catch the members of his team. As a result of this his professor had built a scanner to collect data without the need of forced domestication.

The benefits of being able to do that had somehow escaped scrutiny until now. Now there was a rising wave of researchers and developers working to mass produce the remote scanners. Most prominently, Devon Corporation started an advertising campaign and had their notoriously overfunded labs working overtime.

The paradigm was starting to shift. It hadn't gotten far, but that was only because it hadn't gotten far _yet_. I was going to need to talk to Wallace. I'd done what I could to leave him alone but the list of excuses had just grown too short.

Phoebe's rapport with the prodigy had proven helpful time and again, and I was about to add one more to the tally.

I pulled out my nav and dialed her number, being out on patrol she had about a 50-50 chance of picking up.

"Hey Boss! It's about your premature reincarnation isn't it?" I could hear the grin even over the buffeting wind of her high altitude path.

"Being the ghost specialist, I would assume you of all people understand why that's unlikely." I couldn't help but smile back.

"He's even got your name! Tell me he doesn't remind you a little bit of yourself."

"Well, as you so keenly observed we _do_ happen to share names-"

"I _just said that_. Anyway, what did you actually want me to do? I know we've been taking the hands-off approach up to now. What's changed?"

"You've heard about Devon Corporation's new line of production?"

"The scanners? What does that have to do with- wait. You're saying that scan of Rayquaza is legit?"

"Yep."

"Guess that makes sense in retrospect. People would've been a bigger stink by now if it was fake. Want me to see if I can get him to visit?"

"Please. We don't want to grill him, but I would like to hear personally from him on this."

"Roger, I'll call you again in a few."

(Wallace)

I ended the nav call with Mr. Stone. Hearing that he wanted to publically endorse my particular method of catching pokémon was the best news I'd gotten all month.

Hearing that he wanted to use me as an advertising tool to help publicise the new market it would produce was not. We'd wound up at something of an impasse until I'd finally broken down and offered to visit in person tomorrow to discuss things further.

I hadn't even put the device down before it started ringing again.

 _Shoot, did he forget something?_ Mr. Stone didn't strike me as a man who'd call back for a small detai-

' _Spooky Scary Phoebe'_

 _She must never know what I have her caller ID set to._ I smiled before answering the call.

"Hi, I'd like a large pepperoni pizza with an order of wings-"

"This isn't _that_ important Wallace, I _will_ hang up on you." Her muffled laughter betrayed her.

"So what's up? I've spent most of today being a lazy piece of garbage, so if there are any more volcanoes going off it's probably not my fault."

"No, or at least not that I'm aware of. I just wanted to ask you a few questions about your scanner. Any chance you'd be up for a visit?"

I reached for the link with Imp, unsurprisingly I located her in Mrs. Fructus' garden. The very profound impression of getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar made me snort.

 _I'm in a good mood, so I'll pretend I didn't find you stealing berries. You up for visiting Phoebe?_

' _Yes, of course, we should go now. I was just helping Old Berry Woman but I'm sure she won't mind a break.'_

 _Uh huh. Anyone else want to come?_ I cast my mind to the other members of my team scattered around Littleroot.

Marble had been asleep in the backyard for the last two days with Cindy staying near and grazing. Sylph was in the process of scanning for Wurmples in the forest and Minnow was sunbathing like a several ton cat.

Two brief flickers of curiosity before Sylph and Cindy returned to their respective food.

 _Just us then._

"Yeah, I'll be there in a sec." I got up from my bed as Imp warped into my room. "Anywhere specific you want me?"

"I can meet you at the League entrance in a minute."

"Sounds good I'll- oof"

Imp hadn't waited for me to get off of my bed so instead she had simply teleported my prone form to the ground from about bed-height on the front steps of the building.

' _Whoops.'_

I think she was starting to get a proper grasp of sarcasm. So proud of her.

"-I'll see you there." I finished before ending the call. After toying with the idea of getting up I decided that standing was overrated, so I stayed splayed on the steps where I'd landed.

Perks of never getting sore - everything can function as a bed.

After a minute I spotted the dense grey cloud that announced Phoebe's arrival.

"Wallace, uh... you alright?" She craned her head around as she touched down, a mix of worry and bemusement on her face.

"Standing takes too much effort. So what in particular did you want to know?" I waved the scanner at her without getting up.

"A few things. For starters, why did your professor build it for you to begin with?"

 _This is going to take a while._

It didn't.

Phoebe was very efficient with her questions, though I could feel the restricted curiosity. She wanted to ask more, but had something else on her mind.

"Everything we've discussed 'till now could have been done over a phone. Not that I'm against an old fashioned conversation, it's nice to see you again and all that, but why'd you want me here?"

She quirked her mouth in that way people did when they remembered I was an empath.

"Boss Man wanted to talk with you. We've been trying to avoid interrogating you, but the waves you made since saving the world are only getting bigger and we wanted your opinion on the matter."

Grudgingly I hauled myself into a sitting position. "If it'll help ease your minds, I agreed to meet with Mr. Stone tomorrow. I doubt he'd have a problem if you or Wallace wants to come with me."

"You're friends with Mr. Stone?"

 _Oh, did I forget to mention that?_

' _Probably.'_

 _Thank you, Imp._

"Well, I did a few favors for him and his son during the start of my expedition so... yeah. Anyway, it sounds like we should bring this conversation to Wallace before we make any decisions."

And so the next day I found myself in Mr. Stone's office having a conversation with two of the most powerful people on the continent. Four if I included Steven and myself.

"So then, we're all busy folks so let's get to business. The scanners." Mr. Stone started off, looking to me.

"Well, I can say that I'm all for their development. Not sure I can offer much advice or technical knowledge, though." I looked to Champion Wallace, honestly unsure of how he perceived the development. "I never had a problem with it breaking over the course of the journey, if that helps."

"While Mr. Stone would likely know more, I doubt even mass production of the scanners would significantly decrease pokéball production and consumption. A major economic shift is unlikely." He glanced across the desk to the corporate head.

Mr. Stone nodded. "There's money to be made, but none of the existing markets are going to be subsumed. The reason I pushed so hard to get your permission to use you as the advertising face is that the public is still undecided on the whole idea of foregoing pokéballs in favor of old fashioned domestication; which goes hand in hand with the idea of the scanners. Being what most would call a hero, it would do much to help them come to a positive conclusion if you were to publically endorse them."

I hid a grimace. That all made sense, but...

"I would really rather avoid seeing my face on a billboard. Honestly, that most people already know my name and can pick me out by my _hat_ is much more than I like."

"Have you considered getting a new..." Stephen started.

I stared at him with a perfectly neutral expression, thinking just as loud as I could manage. Mr. Stone turned away and cleared his throat. Wallace felt like he was holding in a laugh.

"Nevermind, then."

Mr. Stone continued. "Well, I'm afraid I can't do much to reduce your public exposure without shooting this whole campaign in the foot, but we can certainly avoid anything too garish. Even something as simple as an interview could suffice, especially since you've all but fallen off the radar for the last three months. People want to know what our friendly neighborhood 'White Hat' is up to."

Broken record problem - that was a bullet I really should've bitten sooner. Being a mysterious guardian or whatever would not help dissuade people from thinking of me as some sort of mysterious guardian.

Funny how that worked.

"I can agree to that." I answered before I could change my mind. "And as long as we're on the subject, I actually owe a bit of an apology to a reporter I met on my expedition. Gabby or something like that? If possible, I'd like for her to do the interview."

A flicker of surprise ran through the room.

"Not many people care for the company of a reporter. It speaks well of you that you'd go that far to apologize." Mr. Stone leaned back in his chair. "I don't see any reason we can't make that work. Let's talk details."

(Mr. Sullivan)

The next two days were a whirl of activity. I wasted no time getting the interview together. I wasn't sure how but Mr. Stone even managed to wrangle Wallace into two more interviews, a press conference, and even a meeting with the Elite Four amidst a slew of other, smaller talks to make absolutely certain people knew he was endorsing the scanners.

It was not hard to tell that Wallace wanted nothing more than to vanish into thin air. Even after months spent becoming the rising star of Hoenn, he was still no good at hiding how he felt about things. Which was a relief, as that was about the only thing about him that hadn't changed.

When I'd first met him in Petalburg Woods he'd been intelligent and inexperienced. When he'd checked in with the fossils the change had been profound enough to be startling. There hadn't been much 'boy' left in the 'trainer' that had taken his place.

Now he was something altogether different. There were the obvious things like his sudden growth spurt and the weight of his footfalls. But more than that there was the bone deep confidence, the keen focus of his eyes, the intrinsic knowledge of a graduated psychic. The differences are subtle, but all together they make the image of someone who wasn't _quite_ human anymore.

It was... enlightening, and reassuring, to see how little of his personality had changed since I'd met him despite it all. Still the same wry, grumpy teenager with a good heart.

Finally, Mr. Stone ran out of excuses to keep him and he was released from our commercial grip. He didn't leave Rustboro immediately, instead asking to stop by the labs one more time. I agreed to be his guide, not that he really needed one.

The exp. share had worked beautifully for months. A bit of a pity the whole scanner campaign was just taking off, since it meant this new accessory would need to wait if it wanted any attention. Wallace was also very interested in the progress of the translator.

Imp still preferred telepathy, but apparently she and Wallace had decided to undermine another law of the universe and _taught her how to talk_. If Jonathan couldn't make the project work now it wasn't going to work at all.

I was half right.

"I'm going to need to start over." Jon slumped down in his chair, bringing a hand up to his brow.

I saw the startled glance between Wallace and Imp, the latter having just finished reading a full page of text out loud in what was best described as a young human's voice

"Why? I thought making a translator would be easier now that we already have one." Wallace asked the question we'd both been wondering.

"It is, you've just blown my research out of the water. If pokémon can honestly _comprehend_ human speech then I've been wasting months trying to bridge a gap that _wasn't there_. As great as that is to learn, it also renders basically all of my previous data obsolete.

"So with that in mind, could you drop by in a week or so? I should have a new plan set up by then."

He agreed, with an apology.

After that came a fairly brief conversation with Dr. Burke. Wallace had apparently grown fond enough of the device that he asked if he could keep it, something which spoke very well of the chances of success for the devices.

"Pretty much belongs to you at this point anyway." Burke answered with a shrug and a smile.

And with that, Wallace nodded to us both and vanished into space.

(Wallace)

I landed back at home, evening already starting to encroach. The last few days had been much more tiring than I'd expected. The constant influx of emotional information that came from being around so many people had both Imp and I looking forward to a break.

It was also nice to reconnect with the rest of my team. Cindy had lain down next to Marble and both were sound asleep. Minnow was taking up most of the center of the town so he could set his head down next to Mrs. Fructus' garden. Sylph was perched on top of his head and both had a sense of anticipation that led me to believe they'd been mooching.

On a similar note, May's altaira, Feilong, was perched on top of May's house and I could feel Sceptile nearby in the forest.

All of them had had an easier time settling down in Littleroot than I would have guessed. Minnow especially seemed to have mellowed out since the clash with Rayquaza.

My eyes trailed down the pale scar on his left flank, stretching almost fifteen feet from tip to tail. If I focused I could feel the dull ache it caused him.

I wasn't happy about it, but our time for fighting was over. For now at least.

While I was ruminating on my less than ideal encounter with the dragon god, May wandered up the road from the lab. Spotting her, I approached. Despite finishing our expeditions within a few days of each other, we hadn't actually seen each other since our talk in Lilycove. Weird for such a small town.

"Hey, May. Finished with Birch for the day?"

"Oh, yeah. He just wanted some clarification on Route 109." _Nervous, anxious._

 _Looks like she still hasn't quite forgiven herself for the Fortree fiasco, or maybe she's just nervous about Minnow. Battle-scarred dragons tend not to make people relax._

"Makes sense. You definitely covered that stretch more thoroughly than I did. I spent most of it being horribly seasick."

A small 'snrk' escaped before she schooled her expression. "Anyway, did you have any plans now that you've finished your expedition? I don't think I'm speaking just for myself when I say settling back down would drive me stir crazy."

"I hear you. Never thought I'd be the one in the family with wandering blood. Never did get out much when I lived in Johto. Speaking of which, I was actually thinking of visiting some of my old spots, that or tagging along with you for a while if that's okay."

 _Surprise, more than I'd expect. And there's the anxiety again, does she really think I'd rat on her after everything?_ Her anxiety spikes _again_ when she remembers my empathy.

"I, uhh... You'd really trust me? I mean..."

"May, you can't honestly think I'm still mad about that. I meant it when I said I'd just as soon put it all behind us."

 _Relief, but something about it felt off... Whatever, girls are always hard to read._

"You're right. I'm sorry, it's just... thanks." Better now, if a little embarrassed.

Though since I'm already talking to her.

"Actually, there was actually something I wanted to ask you." I started cautiously, it was a bit of a red button topic between us. "So you know my prefered method of capture, right?"

She nodded, no anger that I could detect either.

"Well, I've been trying to introduce it to people when I can but you brought up a point back in Fortree. It's dangerous to try interact with and undomesticated pokémon, _I_ know what I'm doing but there's a real chance people could get hurt if they try it without the experience to go with it. Is it right for me to be encouraging people?"

I'd been meaning to get that off my chest for a while, unfortunately May seems to have about as much idea of how to answer as I did.

There's a bit of a silence while we both ponder the question.

"I think..." She starts slowly. "That if someone doesn't take the sensible precautions to avoid getting attacked anyway, then that's their fault. Not yours."

A bit blunt, but her logic made sense.

"I guess. Still, I'd feel better if there was like and instructional book on in or something."

"It's not like there's anything stopping you from writing one." May joked.

I chuckled along, the conversation wandering down aimless chatter until night had fallen. It kept going for a while after that too.

I sat at my desk, leaning back on the chair with the help of Imp's borrowed telekinesis to make sure I didn't fall over. A task that required little enough focus so that I could think about the point both May and my parents had brought up.

What did I want to do?

I'd help Birch with his research, but even now I knew that wasn't going to be a permanent arrangement. I could probably join the Elite Four once one of them retires; that would certainly help as far as keeping an ear to the ground. On the other hand that would guarantee some level of fighting and publicity, now that I'd met my desired strength threshold I'd rather avoid both when I could.

There was also the matter of the orbs to take into account.

" _Guard them with what has been returned to you."_

Whispered into my head during the last moments of Rayquaza healing me. It wasn't hard to figure out it was talking about the orbs, especially when they mysteriously appeared in my pack when last I saw them was on top of Sky Pillar. Apparently I'd done a good enough job impressing that it had decided to trust the task to me. Just as long as I avoided poking either of its siblings in the meantime it should work out.

I had also avoided telling anyone. Imp and I were the only ones who knew. If anyone asked, I planned feigning ignorance and saying I'd left them on Sky Pillar and they were probably under Rayquaza's care.

But that wasn't even what I was really thinking about. Sitting on the back two legs of my chair, my mind kept circling back to May's words.

She'd been joking, the read on her emotions had assured me which might have been why I didn't think about it more at the time. But the idea of writing a book... it seemed a bit daunting at first but I'd done crazier things.

The idea kept chewing at me. Aside from myself, the only people who'd seen me work were Wally, May, and Steven. If I wanted to get more than an association by advertising campaign into the public light then it would have to be _me_.

Thinking further, an instructional booklet might come across as patronizing. 'Hey look at this amazing thing I came up with and if you're good enough you can be amazing like me.'

So that was out, but that didn't really leave me many options. The vast majority of my life had been so dull that I might as well have simply dropped into the world when I moved to Littleroot.

 _Not the most comforting thought I've ever had._ I thought sardonically to myself.

I leaned back on the chair in my room, propping my feet on my desk. Imp had stolen the bed already so I was either going to settle for the chair or a pokéball.

They were actually wonderful for sleeping in and Imp would sense me when she woke up, and even if she didn't I could _probably_ break out if I needed to.

Going through the tally, Sylph was perched on the roof and being mesmerized by the moon while the rest were asleep in an enormous pile in the back yard.

 _They say write about what you know, and if there was any time in my life where I've learned the most it would be my expedition. The people I've changed and the people who've changed me._

There was a lot about my expedition I didn't necessarily want in a public book, May's little episode for starters. But there was potential there, and at the very least it would be nice to make a catalogue while it was all still relatively recent.

Topic settled, I grabbed a pen and started thinking of a title.

' _How to be a Pacifist'? No, I've violated that particular promise too many times._

' _Why Growing Up Sucks', thanks Brain but no thanks._

' _The Story of Some Kid.'_

 _Not quite, how about..._

' _Not Quite a Pacifist.'_

I put my pen on the paper and started to write.

A/N: And that's all she wrote. I wrote, rather. All one hundred and fifty five thousand seven hundred and fourty eight words of it. Four hundred and seven standard pages of text.

All things considered I'm glad I stuck this through to the end, though I do wish I'd planned the pacing a little better. After I had Groudon wake up I belatedly realized that I was all out of time jumps and my ability to plan or pace was not quite up to the task so the last few chapters feel more strung together than I would like.

The tone also got a little darker than I meant it to, especially after I had Mutt leave the party. This story isn't great but I'm still happy with how it turned out. If I revisit Pokémon in the future it'll probably be in a different context so you may consider this story well and truly finished.

As for future stories, I have a few ideas and haven't settled on any yet.

Following the trend of inspiration from GBA Pokémon games, Wallace actually dies on top of Sky Pillar and gets reincarnated al la Pokémon Mystery Dungeon style. Also, wow that promise I made about this story being over didn't even last two paragraphs.

 _Still_ following that trend, I dug up an old copy of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and immediately remembered the half dozen stories I'd made up about it as a kid. On the other hand the fandom for that particular chunk of the Final Fantasy is so small it would all but guarantee no one actually reads it. I won't pander with my writing, but I would at least like it to be visible enough to garner feedback.

Next up is an idea for Zelda Twilight Princess where Link throws a wrench in the divine gears and Midna ends up the disgruntled Hero of Time. Not much more to say about that other than that the idea has not yet left me alone since I had it four months ago.

After that we have a Naruto SI. Yes, even I have felt the temptation and even written a few tentative chapters but pardoning Dreaming of Sunshine I've yet to see anyone actually pull it off with any real appeal.

A slightly more forgivable SI, Skyrim. This is probably a symptom of the eight hundred plus hours I have logged on the game, but I always felt like the system of magic they introduced could be so much more colorful.

I could also go back and rewrite Scrambled. Even looking back now I can feel dozens of changes I would have made. My interest in this is minimal though so unless I get several people voting for this it's probably not going to happen.

Last up, I've thought about what other stories I could apply the team scrambling template to and the best result I've found is Soul Eater. There's some potential there but nothing solid just yet.

So those are my horribly organized plan things. If you have any preference at all leave me a review or PM or whatever, and keep in mind with how few people have actually read this your vote will count for quite a bit.

Welp, that's me.

See you next time,

One with the Spaz.


End file.
